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The following is a brief overview of Jesus' final week.
For daily devotions related to the season, please also visit Signposts:

These days at the end of Jesus' life were remembered in detail by his followers and became the basis for Christian witness.

The four Gospels, composed 40 to 70 years after Jesus’ death, have been described as “Passion Narratives with other material added.” That means each author started with a detailed account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, his final teachings, his arrest and trial, his death on Calvary, and his empty tomb and resurrection.

Then each added various stories from Jesus’ ministry to explain how the final days came about.

The four Gospels present different details, but the overall shape of the Passion Narrative is remarkably consistent, suggesting that these events were remembered keenly and discussed avidly among the earliest followers.

PALM SUNDAY: Entry into Jerusalem

Also known as Passion Sunday, this Sunday before Easter remembers Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem near the end of a public ministry spent almost entirely outside Israel’s capital city. Read more

MAUNDY THURSDAY: The Last Supper

The Thursday before Easter remembers the night before Jesus died, when he shared a “last supper” with his friends and washed their feet as a sign of the “new commandment” (Latin: mandatum novum, hence the name “Maundy Thursday”), namely, that they “love one another.”
Read more

GOOD FRIDAY: Crucifixion

Called “good” because of all the wonder and meaning that flowed from it, this is the day when Jesus was handed over to trial, tortured, forced to carry his cross...through the streets of Jerusalem, nailed to the cross on the hill...and allowed to die a slow and agonizing death... Read more

HOLY SATURDAY

This is the day of waiting. Not much is said about it in the Bible, except that the disciples were in hiding and a group of women were preparing to visit the tomb in order to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. Read more

EASTER DAY: Resurrection

Like the day of Jesus’ death, the day of resurrection is described by the Gospels in detail, both to verify that it happened and to explain the meaning that the first Christians took from it. Read more

RELATED LINKS

Palm Sunday: A Day of Passion

Listen to Dr. Marcus Borg on the two processions of Palm Sunday

The Meaning Behind the Words of Good Friday
by Barbara Brown Taylor

CELTIC EASTER
by Mary C. Earle

STEPPING STONES
Light on the Water: A Quiet Easter Epiphany
by Molly Wolf

From Oasis
Passages:
Waking from Sleep
a spoken meditation about
our own resurrection

Journaling as a Spiritual Practice for Easter