Holy Week is a Needed Time for Reflection

Life is busy. Work, family and all the day to day stuff we do demands our attention. One of the consequences of our busy lives is we don’t pay enough attention to God. If you go to church that helps, at least when you’re there. But what about the rest of the time? It’s easy to get busy and go through your day without talking to or thinking about God. Too often that’s the norm for most of us. So anything that helps us put our attention back on God is a good thing. Holy week is a good opportunity to do that.

Holy Week begins on what we call Palm Sunday with the triumphal entry described in Matthew 21:1-12 as well as in Mark 11, Luke 19 and John 12. We’ve heard the story many times and accept it at face value. Yet what Jesus did was odd, even by the standards of His day. From a biblical perspective it wasn’t odd, it was profound.

[Tweet “Holy week is all about Jesus declaring His identity and purpose for His life on earth.”]

Holy week begins with an intentional and forceful statement by Jesus as to who He is. The significance of Palm Sunday is seen in 3 specific prophecies Jesus fulfilled that day.

3 Prophecies Jesus Fulfilled at the Beginning of Holy Week

1. He fulfilled a prophecy the Messiah would present Himself to Jerusalem Isaiah 62:11.
2. He fulfilled a prophecy about when the Messiah would enter Jerusalem Daniel 9:24-25.
3. He fulfilled a prophecy about the way the Messiah would enter Jerusalem, riding on a colt Zechariah 9:9.

These prophecies were hundreds of years old but everyone living in Israel knew them. The Jews had been looking for the Messiah for hundreds of years. Every child that went to synagogue learned the stories about the Messiah. As the word of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem spread around town Matthew 21:10-11 everyone knew what it meant. Jesus was declaring Himself as the Messiah.

[Tweet “What Jesus did on Palm Sunday forces everyone to either accept or reject Him.”]

By the events of Palm Sunday and the rest of Holy Week Jesus forced the issue of whether people would believe in Him or not.  The people of Israel had a choice. Would they accept Jesus as the Messiah or shrug Him off?

We have the same choice today. Either believe Jesus is who He said He is or shrug Him off. The implications of this choice, according to Jesus, determine whether you will live forever with Him or suffer forever without Him.

If we do believe in Him, we have another important choice. Will we honor Him and obey Him and live as if He is our King? That is something worth thinking about today!

How is Holy Week special to you? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a question or comment below.