On May 11 Kwaku El and I will debate the question, “Does God have glory that he will not share?” You are invited to come!
Subtheses:
Last updated April 7, 2018
Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday. It ends with Easter Sunday.
It is an opportunity to review the corresponding days of the last week of Jesus’ pre-resurrection life. Consider:
The main characters
Holy Week Flashcards on Quizlet. Simplified quiz.
A map of events
Like this one by Logos Bible.
Daily Scripture readings
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
(Source)
Get “real-time” notifications on your phone
Easter Now (iOS)
Live with Christ – Easter App (Android)
Friday chart
Jesus’ Hours on the Cross (PDF)
Family activities that correspond to daily readings
Devotional videos
From the Gospel Coalition:
Devotional readings
From Desiring God:
A book on the last week of Jesus’ life
I love The Final Days of Jesus. It is accessible. It helped me enjoy Holy Week. Oh, the drama! “[Jesus] is about to force the ultimate confrontation…”
This year I am reading D.A. Carson’s The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus.
The Lumo Project
They are awesome. Their videos cover the entire Four Gospels.
I hope these will make Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday all the sweeter!
Other resources
(Image Credit: geoffryn.deviantart.com)
A young boy of royal blood. The true king. The throne is rightly his when he comes of age.
He does not live in the castle. He lives among the people. A common mother raises him.
The throne is his, and not yet his.
The kingdom is his, and not yet his.
He is king, and not yet king.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (5:24-29)
“But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (5:47)
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (6:63)
“Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.” (8:43)
“I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.” (8:37)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’” (8:51-52)
“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (10:16)
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (10:27)
“If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.” (12:47-49)
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” (14:10)
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (14:15)
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (14:21)
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” (14:23-24)
“Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” (15:3)
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (15:7)
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (15:10-11)
“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (15:20)
“For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” (17:8)
“Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.'” (18:37)
What we’re willing to eat and drink with other people (not just tolerate the presence of, but participate in) has such deep significance. It says,
You are clean, and what you eat is clean.
You are with me, I am with you.
What you touch, I will touch.
What you eat, I will eat.
What you drink, I will drink.
Otherwise a theological and practical wall is raised between us and others. In this light, consider the significance of God showing a “sheet” to Peter with “all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.” God says to him:
“Rise, Peter; kill and eat!” (Acts 10:13)
Go preach the precious gospel of Jesus to Cornelius, and have table-fellowship with him, and eat what he eats!
There is precious reconciliation in Christ at the dinner table:
“For [Jesus] himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14-16)
And don’t let anyone give you trouble:
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)
The inverse is also true: What other believers are sensitive not to eat, we are, in their presence, sensitive not to eat. Accommodate for the sake of love:
“It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.” (Romans 14:21)
God is able guard it, therefore guard it:
“I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me… By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” (2 Timothy 1:12,14)
Work it out, because God it at work in you:
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.” (Philippians 2:12-13)
Make it your own, because Christ has made you his own:
“I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” (Philippians 3:12)
