Holy Week

Greetings in Christ's name,

I thought you would like to experence Holy week and it's special place of worship in the believer's heart. It is a journey well worth one week of discipline and reflection, and it is a journey for all believers, even HC adherents.

Remember, at the last supper, Jesus said to His disciples "Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor. 11:24 as quoted by Paul). In the original Greek, rememberance is "anamnesis". This term in the Bible and Jewish culture meant "to remember by acting out" or "to remember by re-inacting". Our modern cultures idea of remembrance is to mentally think on the event, remember in our mind, or to reflect on the past emotionally. This is why we are so somber at communion. The Jews today still replay the passover meal (sedar) in a real, physical way with joy and thanksgiving. The early church; being Jews; understood the concept of anamnesis, and this is why we have the agape feast / communion meal today. It is not a "symbolic" cracker and "shot glass" of wine, but a real meal, with the loaf and cup included in it.

As we "anamnesis" the events of the passion, we re-enact with all the joy, sorrow, temporary defeat and ultimate victory the last week of Jesus' ministry on earth. We who partake in the events of Holy Week are disciples entering into the passion of the Lord, so we do not to forget what His sacrifice meant to us and humanity.

Have a blessed Holy Week!

Jeff Henning
Break Bread Ministries

The History of Holy Week

Holy Week observances began in Jerusalem in the earliest days of the Church, when devout people traveled to Jerusalem at Passover to reenact the events of the week leading up to the Resurrection.

Egeria was a Christian who traveled widely during the period of 381-385 and wrote about Christian customs and observances in Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor. She described how religious tourists to Jerusalem reenacted the events of Holy Week. On Palm Sunday afternoon, the crowds waved palm fronds as they made a procession from the Mount of Olives into the city. Of course, the observances must have begun quite a number of years before Egeria witnessed them, or they wouldn’t have been so elaborate. It’s just that Egeria’s description is the earliest we still have. The tourists took the customs home with them.

Holy week observances spread to Spain by the fifth century, to Gaul and England by the early seventh century. They didn’t spread to Rome until the twelfth century. The purpose of Holy Week is to reenact, relive, and participate in the passion of Jesus Christ.