-- John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

-- Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Holy Week (3/28/10 -- 4/4/10)

March 28 - Palm Sunday
April 1 - Maundy (Holy) Thursday
April 2 - Good Friday
April 4 - Easter Sunday (Western Christianity)
April 4 - Easter Sunday (Orthodox Christianity)

+ Easter: 4/24/2011; 4/8/2012; 3/31/2013; 4/20/2014; 4/5/2015

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The week prior to Easter is known as Holy Week: From Palm Sunday (03/28/10) to the following Easter Sunday (04/04/10); for it is filled with a number of holy milestones leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus. In some ways it was the most important week in Jesus’ life, with such critical events as His Cleansing the temple, the Last Supper, His Arrest, Trial, and Crucifixion, and, on Easter, His Resurrection from the dead. Because the New Testament connects these key events with mankind’s Salvation, Christians made their celebration a significant part of worship.

+ Palm Sunday:

The start of Holy Week is Palm Sunday, the sixth and final Sunday of Lent before Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, celebrates the triumphant entry of Jesus as the Messianic King in Jerusalem.

Just one week before His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus is believed to have entered Jerusalem, riding on the back of a donkey. He was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, waving palm branches, shouted: "Hosanna!" An historical symbol of triumph and victory, palm branches were used to mark times of great rejoicing, such as the welcoming of a new King.

They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” (John 12:13). This is known as His “Triumphal Entry.” By the following Friday He was crucified. Some churches still stage processions using palm branches.

+ Note: "Hosanna!" - A Hebrew expression meaning "Save!" which became an exclamation of praise.

The biblical account of Palm Sunday can be found in Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; and John 12:12-19.

+ Between Sunday and Thursday

The days between Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday are known as Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday. During these days, various important events took place according to the gospels, such as Jesus's conversations with disciples and Jewish religious leaders, and Judas's preparation to betray Jesus.

+ Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday):

The Thursday before Easter commemorates the night before Jesus’ Crucifixion. It was an eventful night: Jesus’ Last Supper with His disciples, the agony in Gethsemane, the Arrest. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “Commandment.” In John’s account of the evening, Jesus told His disciples to Serve and Love one another.

The Lord's Supper (Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-20; 1Cor.11:23-25)

++ Good Friday of the Lord's Passion:

In a way it is an odd name for a Sad day -- the day of Jesus’ Crucifixion. It came to be called “Good” because Jesus’ death on the Cross was regarded as the Perfect Sacrifice that Canceled Out human sin and Allowed man to be Reconciled to God.

A Fast day of the Church commemorating Jesus' crucifixion and death. This day is marked by solemn observations in memory of Jesus' crucifixion. The Cross itself, came to be regarded as the main symbol of faith for the Christians.

+ Holy Saturday:

This is the final day of both Holy Week and the Triduum, Jesus was in the tomb. There are few specific customs associated with Holy Saturday, except that it is the final night before the Feast of the Resurrection, which begins at the Great Easter Vigil. It is held as a traditional time for baptism services.

+ 1 Peter 3:18-19
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.

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+ Easter Sunday + (4/4/2010)

Easter Sunday is the day of the feast. This day, the third since crucifixion, the Christ is believed to have shown up Himself. And not just that, Jesus also joined His disciples on a meal! Easter comes at the end of the six days of the Holy Week which came to be associated with the life of Jesus before the Resurrection. This is when Christ is believed to show Himself up after His death through crucifixion. He had risen up from His tomb that was guarded by the sentries. And met His disciples to get them prepared to carry out His works in His absence.

The celebration of the Resurrection of’ Jesus occurs every Sunday (which Christians came to call “the Lord’s Day”), and it was about a century before anyone began observing the annual event that came to be called Easter. It was first called Pascha, the Greek word for Passover, which was natural since Jesus’ death and Resurrection occurred near the Jewish Feast of Passover. The apostle Paul referred to Jesus as “our Passover Lamb” (1Cor. 5:7; John 1:29,36; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7). Jesus, called the “Lamb of God” several times in the New Testament, was regarded as the Perfect and Final Sacrifice for man’s sins.

+ Matthew 28:6
He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.

+ Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


The meaning and purpose of Jesus' teaching, sacrifice, death and Resurrection can be summary in:

+ 2 Corinthians 5:15-21
15 And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ++ 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ++

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

-- 1 John 4:9-10
9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.



+ The Royal Entrance into Jerusalem:

-- Matthew 21:1-17
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" (Zech. 9:9). 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" (Ps.118:26). 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" 11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

12 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 "It is written," He said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' (Isaiah 56:7) but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'" (Jer. 7:11). 14 The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.

15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. 16 "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked Him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?" (Psalm 8:2). 17 And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.

-- Luke 19:37-40
37 When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!" 40 "I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

-- John 12:16
At first His disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

-- Zechariah 9:9-10
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your King comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the war-horses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.




"Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Mat.21:9)

It was a singularly bright testimony to the ways of God, and this not alone in the ever adorable One who thus deigned to offer Himself to the acceptance of His people, but in the suited cries of the multitude, little as they realised the truth of their own words or the gravity of the situation for their nation and city from that day to this. God was moving in the midst. He would have a testimony, true but despised, to the King, humble Himself as He might. Matthew points out the fulfilment of the prophetic oracle in the strange sight of that day. Luke adds "peace in heaven and glory in the highest" in the praise to God which filled the mouths and hearts of the disciples, as well as the blessed Saviour’s lament and tears over Jerusalem. It fell more within the domain of Mark to say that "Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the Twelve." (Mark 11:11). -- Eclectic

HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST

Hosanna in the highest
To our exalted Savior,
Who left behind for all mankind
These tokens of His favor:
His bleeding love and mercy,
His all redeeming Passion;
Who here displays, and gives the grace
Which brings us our salvation.

Louder than gathered waters,
Or bursting peals of thunder,
We lift our voice and speak our joys
And shout our loving wonder.
Shout, all our elder brethren,
While we record the story
Of Him that came and suffered shame,
To carry us to glory.

Angels in fixed amazement
Around our altars hover,
With eager gaze adore the grace
Of our eternal Lover:
Himself and all His fullness
Who gives to the believer;
And by this bread whoe’er are fed
Shall live with God for ever.

-- Charles Wesley



HOSANNA WE SING

Hosanna we sing, like the children dear,
In the olden days when the Lord lived here;
He blessed little children, and smiled on them,
While they chanted His praise in Jerusalem.

Alleluia we sing, like the children bright,
With their harps of gold and their raiment white,
As they follow their Shepherd with loving eyes,
Through the beautiful valleys of Paradise.

Hosanna we sing, for He bends His ear,
And rejoices the hymns of His own to hear;
We know that His heart will never wax cold
To the lambs that He feeds in His earthly fold.

Alleluia we sing in the Church we love,
Alleluia resounds in the Church above,
To Thy little ones, Lord, may such grace be given,
That we lose not our part in the song of Heav’n.

-- George S. Hodges



-- Psalms 101:1
I will sing of Your love and justice; to You, O LORD, I will sing praise.

-- Psalms 103:1
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.

-- Psalms 106:1
Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.

-- Psalms 117:1-2
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. 2 For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.

-- Revelation 19:1
"Hallelujah! Salvation and Glory and Power belong to our God."