WHAT DID JESUS DO DURING PASSION WEEK?

 What did Jesus do during “Passion Week”? According to Doug Bookman of christianity.com, that week unfolded this way:

Day 1: Palm Sunday

Jesus rides into Jerusalem, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9b: “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey … .” 

He spends the night in Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives’ slopes, about two miles east of Jerusalem. Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus live there.

Day 2: Monday

Jesus leaves Bethany, curses the fig tree, weeps over Jerusalem, and cleanses the Temple for the second time in his ministry. Driving money changers out of the Temple, he says, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’” (Luke 19:46). He sleeps in Bethany. 

Day 3: Tuesday

Jesus leaves Bethany, finds the fig tree withered, and teaches on faith. Temple religious leaders intend to arrest him. Jesus evades their traps and says: “For you are like whitewashed tombs … inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy … Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?” (Matt. 23:24-33).

Jesus and his disciples go east to the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem. Jesus gives the Olivet Discourse, telling about the end of the age (Matt. 24:1–25:46). Judas Iscariot negotiates to betray Jesus (Matthew 26). Jesus and the disciples return to Bethany to stay the night.

Day 4: Holy Wednesday

Jesus spends the day and night in Bethany.  

Day 5: Maundy Thursday (“Maundy” comes from the Latin “Mandatum novum do vobis,” words Jesus spoke to his apostles: “A new mandate I give to you” — the command to love and serve one another.)

Peter and John prepare for Passover. After sunset, Jesus eats the meal with the 12. Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane; Judas betrays him. The High Priest condemns Jesus. In the early morning hours, Peter denies knowing his Master three times before the rooster crows.

Day 6: Good Friday — Trial, Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Pontius Pilate finds Jesus guilty. Jesus endures accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings, a crown of thorns, and abandonment. After multiple unlawful trials (Thursday night and early Friday morning), he is sentenced to death and then crucified at “the third hour” (9 a.m.) on Passover day (Mark 15:25).

Judas Iscariot, overcome with remorse, hangs himself early Friday morning.

Jesus’ Seven Sayings from the Cross:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NIV).  

“Today … with me in paradise.”

“Woman, behold thy son … ” (darkness from noon till 3 p.m.).

“My God, My God … .”

“I thirst.”

“It is finished.”

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46, NIV).

About 3 p.m., the veil is torn, rocks are rent, and some graves are opened, and people rise (to mortality) and go into the city.

Jesus’ side is pierced.

Passover lambs are slain in the Temple.

Jesus’ body is buried by sundown. 

By 6 p.m. Friday evening, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body from the cross and lay it in a tomb.

Day 7: Saturday the Sabbath — it ends at 6 p.m., and Christ’s body is ceremonially treated for burial with spices purchased by Nicodemus (John 19:39-40).

In the tomb, Jesus Christ pays the penalty for sin by offering the perfect, spotless sacrifice.

“For you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19 ESV).

Day 8: Resurrection Sunday

Jesus Christ rises from the dead (before dawn). Early Sunday morning, several women go to the tomb and see that the large stone covering the entrance had been rolled away. An angel says to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:5-6 ESV).