Holy Week Timeline Explained

This is the start of the Holy Week. Beside the term Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday is used as well. Jesus left Bethphage and traveled to Jerusalem as king, where he was greeted by people. He rode on a donkey, as prophecies predicted. According to Christianity, the donkey signifies Jesus' gentleness and his down to earth nature – he is a king, but not the expected kind, quite the opposite: by riding a donkey, he subjects himself to mockery, and reveals the shallow nature of how people perceive others. 

The crowd started to grow, as many people wanted to follow Jesus on his journey. They started to place cloaks and plants on the road ahead of him. Palm branches were used, a tradition which is still in place today. When Jesus caught a sight of Jerusalem, he started to weep. In the evening, Jesus journeyed to Bethany and met his friends and disciples.

According to Time, celebrating Palm Sunday goes back to at least the late 4th century A.D. The earliest documentation of Holy Week celebrations were written by Egeria, a nun, who wrote a travel diary of her pilgrimage. In her writing, she mentions the exact rituals that happened on that Palm Sunday she was present, including gospel reading, singing of hymns, carrying of olive and palm branches – all of them still exist today. The opening procession on the other hand, was added to the liturgy later, and was initially performed after the palm blessing. 

After spending another night in Bethany, Jesus returned to Jerusalem. On his way he noticed the fig tree he'd previously cursed, which had dried up. Arriving back to the Temple, the Jewish religious leaders were angered with Jesus and his behavior as spiritual leader of the people. They tried to arrest him, but he eluded their ambush and called them hypocrites.

Jesus continued his journey and visited the Mount of Olives. According to Britannica, the peak can be found east of the Old City of Jerusalem and it's 2,694 feet high. Important for many different religions, the place is inhabited by a combined mosque and Christian chapel, while sacred Jewish burial grounds cover the mountain's slopes.  On the Mount of Olives, Jesus shared one of his famous prophecies, speaking about the downfall of Jerusalem and the end of the epoch, which will bring natural disasters, even stars falling from the sky. 

Just recently, in 2020, a Jewish ritual bath was unearthed at the foot of Mount Olives, dating back to around 2,000 years ago, which corresponds with the time of Jesus' life. Although many ritual baths were found across the ancient Jerusalem, this was the first archaeological evidence found from that exact period: "The latest excavations conducted on this site have confirmed the antiquity of the Christian memory and tradition linked to the place, and this is very important for us and for the spiritual meaning connected with the archeological findings," explained Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land (via Haaretz).

On Thursday, Jesus organized a Passover meal for 12 of his closest disciples. As explained by Mary Fairchild for Learn Religions, the Passover Feast is an important part of Jewish tradition. An 8-day celebration is prepared in memory of Israel's emancipation from Egyptian slavery and the freedom of the Jewish people. During the dinner, Jesus explained to his devotees that this would be his last meal. Jesus shared bread and wine with everyone, describing how bread stands for his body, and wine for his blood. This event is the foundation for the Communion ritual, the Eucharist, an important part of different church practices, which include drinking sacramental wine and eating sacramental bread, the host. After the meal, Jesus washed the feet of all of his disciples and told them they should do the same, since "no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." (John 13:13-17)

As per Live Science, Jesus and his disciples helped themselves to "cholent – a bean stew, lamb, olives with hyssop, bitter herbs with pistachios, a fish sauce, unleavened bread, date charoset and aromatized wine," during Jesus' last dinner. Generoso Urciuoli, archaeologist, and Marta Berogno, archaeologist and Egyptologist, combined historical data and clues from catacombs frescoes. They disagree with the idea that the meal was eaten during the Passover Festival, but they were celebrating "the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, an autumn feast commemorating the years the Israelites spent in the desert in fragile dwellings after the exodus" instead. 

The next morning, Judas realized what he had done and felt guilty. He returned the 30 silver coins, threw them into the temple and hanged himself. 

According to On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ research paper, it was too late, as the trials already started for Jesus. For several hours, Jesus tried to defend himself before the Jewish high priest Caiaphas and the Jewish political tribunal of elders, Sanhedrin, but the verdict is clear: he is guilty of blasphemy. Another trial followed, before the religious Sanhedrin this time, but the verdict is the same, he is accused of blasphemy once again. But, by law, the order for execution could only come from the Roman government, so they sent Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea, and accused him of the attempt to undermine the Roman government. Pilate did not find any evidence, sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, the story repeated and Jesus was back with Pilate. Pilate gave in and ordered the execution.

Since Jesus traveled by foot from Palestine, it is reasonable to assume he was in good health before the trials started, but his health deteriorated rapidly during the  12 hours of legal proceedings. As explained further by Edwards, Gabel, and Hosmer, Jesus was deeply affected by the six trials, suffering from "great emotional stress (as evidenced by hematidrosis – blood sweat), abandonment by his closest friends (the disciples), and a physical beating (after the first Jewish trial)." 

According to Edwards, Gabel, and Hosmer, the ancient crucifixion and pre-crucifixion practices were intended to cause intense agony and each phase could cause death on its own. Jesus' physical condition before he was put on a cross was "at least serious and possibly critical." Since the rules dictated that every execution should start with flogging, Jesus was severely beaten before crucifixion, which not only weakened him, but subjected him to severe blood loss and circulatory shock. The actual cause of death of Jesus could be hypovolemic shock, heart failure, cardio-respiratory failure, or something else.

"It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' When he had said this, he breathed his last." (Luke 23:44-46)

The exact time of Jesus' death is still debated. Some interpretations claim that the crucifixion took place earlier, so the exact time of death should be on Wednesday afternoon, at 3 pm. This way, Jewish law, which stated that a person is legally dead only after three days would be fulfilled, along with the prophecies, which saw Jesus resurrected after three nights and days. Others see contrasting time counts, which define how long a day lasts differently. Nevertheless, the general view of the matter as well as contemporary celebrations count Good Friday as the day of Jesus' crucifixion and death (via The Huffington Post).

Early in the morning, Mary Magdalene visited the tomb and noticed that the stone was removed from the entrance. She called to other disciples, and together they entered the tomb. They saw the linen in which Jesus' body was wrapped, but no body. While Mary Magdalene was crying, she saw two angels and a figure of a man. The man turned out to be Jesus, who told her not to touch him, since he had not ascended yet. Mary Magdalene notified the rest of the group about the event. 

According to "The Jesus Family Tomb Examined: Did Jesus Rise Physically?," despite numerous theories and perspectives on Jesus' resurrection, "the evidence demonstrated that the Bible can be trusted as a historical document, and therefore it gives credence to the resurrection accounts of Jesus of Nazareth." The event is described in many different sources, such as in the Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures from a second-Temple period, Jewish literature written in the period from 200 B.C. to 200 A.D., and Rabbinic literature. Lopez concludes that "people would rise bodily from the dead was the predominant view and background of the period when the witnesses of Jesus' resurrection recorded the NT. A reading of the evidence makes this point indisputable."