What is the Purpose of Passion Week?

You are no doubt familiar with the term “Passion Week” meaning the week which leads up to the Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, or Easter.  Every day between Palm Sunday and “Easter Sunday” has a traditional name, given by the church throughout history, which are more or less based on a loose chronology of the last week of Jesus’ life.  These names are:

Palm Sunday

Holy Monday

Holy Tuesday

Spy Wednesday

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday

Holy Saturday

Resurrection Sunday

I say a “loose chronology” because not all of the events in the Gospels were recorded in strict chronological order.  If that sounds odd to you, think about it the next time you’re telling a story to friends.  You will have a difficult time going in strict chronological order, because rarely does one thing happen in a vacuum – usually, multiple elements of the narrative are occurring at the same time.

I encourage you to look up these titles and read about them, just to strengthen your Bible knowledge and to enhance your appreciation of all that Jesus experienced and endured during the final week before His crucifixion and resurrection.  Remember, the titles of these days are not found in Scripture, but are based on Scripture.  A good resource for this is www.GotQuestions.org.

The purpose for the term “passion” is the intense love of Christ for His people, put on full display and proclamation during His final week.  No longer did He quietly confide with those closest to Him, “My time has not yet come.”  Rather, He submitted to the Father’s will with passion which the world had never known and will never see again.  Resolve this week to spend time every day reading the events of Jesus’ final week before the crucifixion.  

Matthew 21 – 28

Mark 11 – 16

Luke 19 – 24

John 12 – 20

Pastor Bruce