Holy Week Day by DayFrom the Triumphal Entry to the Empty Tomb

The Last Week in Order

The four Gospels give more room to one week than to any other part of the life of Jesus: eight of Matthew's twenty-eight chapters, six of Mark's sixteen, most of Luke's last six, and nine of John's twenty-one. It is the week of the passover¹, the feast that remembered Israel's deliverance from Egypt by the blood of a lamb, and the Gospels take care to say how many days stood between each event and the feast.

The days below follow the traditional order, the one Augustine and Matthew Henry both reckon by: the entry into Jerusalem on the first day of the week, the Last Supper on Thursday evening, the crucifixion and burial on Friday, the sabbath² in the tomb, and the resurrection early on the first day of the next week. Some faithful Christians place the crucifixion on Thursday or Wednesday, reading the Lord's words about three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40) as three full days and nights, and the "high day" of John 19:31 as a feast sabbath earlier in the week. The traditional order is kept here because the Gospels name the day of the burial as the preparation³, the day before the sabbath (Mark 15:42), have the women rest on the sabbath and come to the tomb on the first day (Luke 23:56; 24:1), and speak of the resurrection as on the third day, as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus did on the Sunday itself (Luke 24:21).

Scripture counts a day "from even unto even" (Leviticus 23:32), so the supper on Thursday evening, the arrest that night and the cross the next afternoon fall within one day.

The Sabbath Before: Supper at Bethany

John fixes the starting point. Jesus came up to Bethany, the village of Lazarus about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem (John 11:18), six days before the passover. There they made him a supper; Martha served, Lazarus sat at the table, and Mary anointed his feet with a pound of costly spikenard and wiped them with her hair. Judas objected that the ointment might have been sold and given to the poor, and Jesus answered that she had kept it against the day of his burying (John 12:1-11).

Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

John 12:1
KJV

Matthew and Mark tell of an anointing at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, poured on his head, and set it beside the plot two days before the passover (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9). Matthew Henry wrote that "Most commentators think it was" the same supper, which Matthew and Mark tell where it explains why Judas went to the priests; he himself inclined with Dr. Lightfoot to two suppers, John's on "the seventh day of the week before, being the Jewish sabbath, the night before he rode in triumph into Jerusalem." Either way, the week opens with an anointing for burial: "Christ never rode in triumph into Jerusalem, but when he came thither to suffer; nor had ever his head anointed, but for his burial."

Sunday: The King Comes to His Temple

On the next day, the first day of the week, Jesus sent two disciples for an ass and her colt, and rode down the mount of Olives into Jerusalem. The multitudes spread their garments and cut branches in the way, and John says they took branches of palm trees. They cried hosanna⁴, a word of Hebrew origin that the lexicon glosses as oh save, the cry of Psalm 118:25-26, and Matthew sees in the whole scene the King of Zechariah's prophecy, coming meek and sitting upon an ass (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19).

And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

Matthew 21:9
KJV

Luke alone records that when he beheld the city, he wept over it, because it knew not the time of its visitation (Luke 19:41-44). The day has its own meaning in the calendar of the feast. The law commanded that the passover lamb be taken on the tenth day of the month and kept until the fourteenth (Exodus 12:3-6), and the Lamb of God entered his city on the tenth. Bede (735) drew the line plainly: the paschal lamb was to be "selected five days before the Passover, that is, on the tenth day of the month, and immolated on the fourteenth day of the month," and Christ came then "that by this again he might show that he was the stainless lamb who would take away the sins of the world."

Mark adds a quiet detail (Mark 11:11): Jesus went into the temple, looked round about upon all things, and at eventide went out to Bethany with the twelve. Matthew Henry noticed the silence of that first visit: "He looked round about upon all things, but as yet said nothing." See Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry.

Monday: The Fig Tree and the Temple

Mark gives this day its markers. On the morrow, coming from Bethany, Jesus was hungry, found a fig tree with nothing but leaves, and said that no man would eat fruit of it for ever. Then he went into the temple, cast out them that sold and bought, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves (Mark 11:12-19).

And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Mark 11:17
KJV

Matthew tells the cleansing straight after the entry and joins the cursing and withering of the fig tree into one account (Matthew 21:12-19); Luke records it briefly (Luke 19:45-48). Mark's sequence gives the days, so a day-by-day order follows it. The two acts explain each other: a tree in full leaf with no fruit, and a house of prayer full of trade. From that day the scribes and chief priests sought how they might destroy him. See The Cleansing of the Temple.

Tuesday: The Day of Questions

In the morning the disciples saw the fig tree dried up from the roots, and Jesus taught them about faith and prayer (Mark 11:20-26). Then they came again to Jerusalem, and the fullest day of teaching in the Gospels began. The rulers demanded to know by what authority he did these things. He told the parables of the two sons, the wicked husbandmen and the marriage of the king's son. The Pharisees and Herodians asked about tribute to Caesar, the Sadducees about the resurrection, a lawyer about the great commandment; then Jesus asked how the Christ could be David's son when David called him Lord, "And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions" (Matthew 22:46).

The same day he spoke the woes against the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23) and watched a poor widow cast two mites into the treasury (Mark 12:41-44). As he left the temple his disciples showed him its buildings.

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Matthew 24:1-2
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Sitting on the mount of Olives, he answered their questions about the temple, the end of the age and his coming: the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13 and Luke 21:5-36. Faithful Christians read its timetable differently; its place in the week is plain. Luke sums up these days: in the day time he taught in the temple, and at night he abode in the mount of Olives (Luke 21:37-38). See The Olivet Discourse: Understanding Matthew 24-25.

Wednesday: The Plot and the Price

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he told the disciples how near the end was.

Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

Matthew 26:2
KJV

Mark dates the council the same way. The chief priests, scribes and elders met at the palace of Caiaphas and agreed to take him by subtilty, but not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people (Matthew 26:3-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2). God had appointed the feast day for it. Henry gives the reason: "That the Anti-type might answer to the type." Then one of the twelve went to them. Luke says Satan entered into Judas; Matthew records the thirty pieces of silver they covenanted to pay; from that time he sought opportunity to betray him in the absence of the multitude (Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6). See Judas Iscariot: The Betrayer.

Thursday: The Passover and the Upper Room

On the first day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed, Jesus sent Peter and John to make ready in an upper room (Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-13). In the evening he sat down with the twelve, told them he had desired with desire to eat this passover with them before he suffered, and gave the meal a new meaning.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Luke 22:19-20
KJV

John gives what the others leave out: Jesus rose from supper and washed the disciples' feet; he gave the betrayer the sop, and Judas went immediately out, "and it was night" (John 13:30). Then came the new commandment, the warning to Peter, and the farewell discourse and prayer of John 14 to 17. When they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30). See The Last Supper and the Institution of Communion.

Thursday Night: Gethsemane and the Arrest

Over the brook Cedron was a garden called Gethsemane. Jesus took Peter, James and John further in, and went on a stone's cast alone. Three times he prayed that the cup might pass, and three times he found them sleeping (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 18:1).

Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Luke 22:42
KJV

Luke records the angel that strengthened him and the sweat like great drops of blood. Then Judas came with a band of men from the chief priests, with lanterns, torches and weapons, and gave the sign of a kiss. Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant; Jesus healed it and gave himself up, and all the disciples forsook him and fled (Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12). See Jesus Prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Friday Before Dawn: The Trials

Jesus was led first to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas (John 18:13-24), then to Caiaphas, where the council sought false witness and condemned him for blasphemy when he confessed that he was the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65). In the courtyard Peter denied him three times, and the cock crew (Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; John 18:15-27). As soon as it was day the council met again, bound him and delivered him to Pilate (Luke 22:66-71; Mark 15:1). Judas brought back the silver and hanged himself (Matthew 27:3-10).

Pilate examined him and found no fault in him. Hearing he was a Galilean, he sent him to Herod, who mocked him and sent him back (Luke 23:6-12). Pilate offered to release him by the custom of the feast; the crowd asked for Barabbas. Pilate scourged him, the soldiers crowned him with thorns, and Pilate delivered him to be crucified (Matthew 27:11-26; Mark 15:2-15; Luke 23:1-25; John 18:28-40; 19:1-16).

John notes that the priests would not enter the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, "but that they might eat the passover" (John 18:28). Some read this as placing the passover meal on Friday evening. Henry read it of the feast that continued after the lamb: "not the paschal lamb (that was eaten the night before) but the passover-feast, upon the sacrifices which were offered on the fifteenth day." On that reading John and the other three describe the same days.

Friday: The Crucifixion and Burial

Simon of Cyrene was made to bear the cross. At the third hour they crucified him between two thieves under the title THE KING OF THE JEWS (Mark 15:25-27). From the sixth hour to the ninth there was darkness over the whole land; at the ninth hour he cried with a loud voice, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain (Matthew 27:45-51; Mark 15:33-38; Luke 23:44-46).

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 19:30
KJV

It was the preparation, the day of readiness before the sabbath, and the bodies could not remain on the cross into the holy day. The word for that day occurs six times in the New Testament, every one of them in the account of this Friday (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14, 31, 42).

And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

Mark 15:42
KJV

Joseph of Arimathaea craved the body of Pilate. With Nicodemus he wrapped it in linen with spices, laid it in a new sepulchre hewn out of a rock and rolled a stone to the door, while Mary Magdalene and the other Mary watched (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:43-47; Luke 23:50-55; John 19:38-42). See The Crucifixion of Jesus.

Saturday: The Sabbath in the Tomb

The Gospels say almost nothing of the seventh day. The women had prepared spices and ointments, and then rested.

And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

Luke 23:56
KJV

The chief priests did not rest from their purpose. On the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, they asked Pilate that the sepulchre be made sure "until the third day," and they sealed the stone and set a watch (Matthew 27:62-66). Henry wrote of this day: "Never was there such a sabbath since the sabbath was first instituted as this was." To the Lord it was "a sabbath of rest, but a silent sabbath, it was to his disciples a melancholy sabbath, spent in tears and fears."

The priests themselves treated "after three days" and "until the third day" as the same span. Henry explained the sign of Jonas the same way: "not three whole days and nights," but "part of three natural days"; "he was buried in the afternoon of the sixth day of the week, and rose again in the morning of the first day; it is a manner of speech very usual." Augustine of Hippo (430) put it so: "the first day is reckoned because the latter end of it comes in; and the third day is likewise reckoned, because the first part of it is included." For where the Lord was in those days, see Where Was Jesus for the Three Days Between Crucifixion and Resurrection?

The First Day of the Week: He Is Risen

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, the women came to the sepulchre. The angel of the Lord had rolled back the stone and sat upon it, and the keepers became as dead men (Matthew 28:1-4). The Greek phrase for the first day of the week is built on the word for sabbath, which also names the week from one sabbath to the next (Mark 16:2; John 20:1).

And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Matthew 28:5-6
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Mary Magdalene ran to Peter and John, who found the linen clothes lying in the empty tomb; the Lord appeared first to Mary Magdalene and then to the other women; the soldiers were paid to say the disciples stole the body; he walked with two disciples to Emmaus and was known to them in breaking of bread; he appeared to Simon; and the same day at evening he stood among the disciples behind shut doors and said, "Peace be unto you" (Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-14; Luke 24:1-49; John 20:1-23); see The Resurrection of Jesus and Easter: The Resurrection of Christ. Matthew Henry put the whole morning in one line: "this sabbath is over, and the first day of the week is the first day of a new world."

From the Tenth Day to the First Day

Read in order, the week has the shape of the passover itself. The Lamb comes into the city on the tenth day, is examined in the temple by priests, Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees and lawyers, and is found without blemish; Pilate says the same three times. He keeps the passover with his own, and before the next sunset he is slain. Paul says it plainly: "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Augustine noticed that these days were counted from night to morning: "so these days are because of man's restoration computed from night to morning." The week that began with an anointing for burial ends with spices that were never needed, and the supper at Bethany gives way to bread broken at Emmaus. The church has gathered on the first day of the week ever since (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2), because that was the day he rose.