Holy Week Scripture Reading and Devotions

Holy Week is the last week of Lent, when we follow Jesus from Palm Sunday, the Sunday of the Passion, to his death on Good Friday in preparation for his rising from the dead on Easter Sunday.



Palm Sunday

Read: Matthew 21: 1-11. Mark 11:1-11. John 12: 12-19

Overview: Accompanied by his disciples, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, while crowds of people covered the streets ahead of him with their cloaks and with palm branches.

This Sunday observes the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that was marked by the crowds, who were in Jerusalem for Passover, waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king. The Gospels tell us that Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, enacting the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, and in so doing emphasized the humility that was to characterize the Kingdom he proclaimed. The irony of his acceptance as the new Davidic King (Mark 11:10) by the crowds who would only five days later cry for his execution should be a sobering reminder of the human tendency to want God on our own terms.

This Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday to commemorate the beginning of Holy Week and Jesus’ final agonizing journey to the cross. The English word passion comes from a Latin word that means "to suffer," the same word from which we derive the English word patient.




Holy Monday

Read: Matthew 21: 18-20; 22:15-46; 23:1-39. Luke 19:45-48, Mark 11:15-18.

Overview: Jesus chased the money-changers out of the Temple.
On Great Monday the Church commemorates the event of the cursing of the fig tree (Mt 21.18-20). In the Gospel narrative this event is said to have occurred on the morrow of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Mt 21.18 and Mk 11. 12). Together with the event of the cleansing of the Temple this episode is another manifestation of Jesus' divine power and authority and a revelation as well of God's judgment upon the faithlessness of the Jewish religious classes.




Holy Tuesday

Read: John 12:17-50. Matthew 21:23-24. Luke 20:1-21, 36.

Overview: Jesus preached and taught in Jerusalem.

On Great Tuesday the Church calls to remembrance two parables, which are related to the Second Coming. The one is the parable of the Ten Virgins (Mt 25.1-3); the other the parable of the Talents (Mt 25.14-30).




Holy Wednesday

Read: James 5:10-16, Romans 15:1-7, I Corinthians 12:27-31-13:1-8, II Corinthians 1:8-11. Galatians 5:22-6:2, I Thessalonians 5:14-23. Gospel readings: Luke 10:25-37, Luke 19:1-10, Matthew 10:1 & 10:5-8, Matthew 8:14- 23, Matthew 25:1-13, Matthew 15:21-28, and Matthew 9:9-13.

Overview: Day of Rest.

The scriptures do not mention this day but with the surrounding events it seems to indicate that on this day Jesus rested in preparation for what was to come.

On Great Wednesday the Church invites the faithful to focus their attention on two figures: the sinful woman who anointed the head of Jesus shortly before the passion (Mt 26.6-13), and Judas, the disciple who betrayed the Lord. The former acknowledged Jesus as Lord, while the latter severed himself from the Master. The one was set free, while the other became a slave. The one inherited the kingdom, while the other fell into perdition.




Holy Thursday

Read: Matthew 26:2-20, John 13:3-17, Matthew 26:21-39, Luke 22:43-45, and Matthew 26:40-27:2.

Overview: After washing the feet of the disciples, Jesus celebrated the Feast of the Passover.
After the supper, Jesus and his disciples went to Gethsemane to pray, where he was arrested by the Temple guard and taken to an illegal night session of the Jewish court, the Sanhedrin.

There are a variety of events that are clustered on this last day before Jesus was arrested. These include the last meal together, which was the Passover meal, the institution of Communion, the betrayal by Judas (because of the exchange with Jesus at the meal), and Jesus praying in Gethsemane while the disciples fell asleep.




Holy Friday/Good Friday

Read: I Corinthians 1:18-2:2, Matthew 27:1-38, Luke 23:39-43, Matthew 27:39-54, John 19:31-37, and Matthew 27:55-61. Mark 15.

Overview: Jesus was taken into Roman courts, before Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas, who sent him back to the Jewish court. Roman soldiers took him to Golgotha, the place of the skull, where he was crucified. Friday of Holy Week has been traditionally been called Good Friday or Holy Friday. On this day, the church commemorates Jesus’ arrest (since by Jewish customs of counting days from sundown to sundown it was already Friday), his trial, crucifixion and suffering, death, and burial.




Holy Saturday

Read: Romans 6:3-11, Matthew 28:1-20.

Overview: Jesus rested in the tomb while his disciples observed the Sabbath.

On Holy Saturday we celebrate the theme of faithfulness receiving its reward. The crucifixion is over, Christ is buried, the twelve apostles and other disciples are scattered and defeated. And yet, three myrrh-bearing women come in faithfulness to perform the last act of love--to anoint Jesus according to the Jewish burial custom. Their unwavering devotion is rewarded--they are the first to share in Christ's triumph over evil and death. They are the first witnesses to the Resurrection.




Easter Sunday

Read: Mark 16:1-8. John 20:19-25. Matthew 28. Luke 24.

Overview: An angel met Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” at the tomb to tell them that Jesus was risen from the dead.
Early in the morning, women went to the tomb and found that the stone closing the tomb’s entrance had been rolled back. An angel told them Jesus was alive. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden, to Peter, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and later that day to all the disciples but Thomas.

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