Introduction to Holy Week Bible Study
As preparation for Easter, it has been a dream of mine to write a devotional Bible study for each day of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday. It carries us through Mark chapters 11 through 16, and follows Jesus' final steps leading up to his death, day by day.
I want to make it a journey of our hearts as well, clearing the way to let his sacrifice on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter to make the best impact. I do not want to be deadened to this story just because I have heard it and read it so many times in the past. I want the observance of this holiday to renew and re-ignite a passionate love for God in my heart. Even more so, I wish to experience--as if it were the first time--the unfathomable love that God has for me.
As I share this Bible study with you, I pray you also share in that experience. As we re-dedicate our lives to Jesus, placing him in first place in our hearts and making him our greatest focus this week, I pray that God responds to each of you in a personal way.
So get out your Bibles, and let's get started!
Day One: Palm Sunday
Bible Passage: Mark 11:1-10
The words that this passage makes me think of are Obedience and Worship:
Obedience: Imagine this day as a disciple of Jesus. You are travelling to Jerusalem like a normal Hebrew approaching Passover. You have walked most of the way there already. Yet as you approach, Jesus suddenly decides he wants a ride. So he asks you to get one, in a way that makes you look like you are stealing it. You are supposed to walk up to a random (yet somehow very specific) donkey's colt, and untie it like you own it. When you are confronted about your behavior, your instructions about your reply are not "Ask for permission to borrow this donkey so that Jesus can fulfill a prophecy". It is simply "The Lord needs it, and will send it back shortly." And, somehow, it works.
Jesus was not borrowing a donkey from a person. He was borrowing it from his Father, who had placed it in the care of a steward until it was needed. However, his disciples would not have known that. Yet they obeyed Jesus' instructions to the letter and without hesitation. Wow!
Because of their obedience, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey's colt, fulfilling the words of Zechariah 9:9
"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
God was weaving such a bigger story than the disciples could hope to see. They were simply gathering the final piece to the puzzle that God had been assembling for hundreds of years.
Worship: Hosanna! Save!
"Lord, Save us!
Lord, grant us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.
The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join the festal procession
up to the horns of the alter."
~Psalm 118:25-27
Yet again, we find humans unknowingly playing along to a script that God had written hundreds of years earlier. They used worship to welcome their King into his city, and their High Priest into his temple. Most people jump straight ahead to just a few days later when the crowds of Jerusalem shout a different message. But I don't want to cheapen this moment; this day.
I can imagine it so well: The press of the crowd. The unified, deafening noise punctuated by individual shouts of praise. The smell of freshly-cut green leaves being broken open as the donkey steps on them. The feeling that this moment is significant. This Man is something more. Something important is happening, and it is a good thing!
Such an overwhelming feeling longs to be expressed. Sometimes words are not enough, but we still have a burning desire to try.
Right Response:
As was stated in the introduction, one of our goals this week is to put God in his rightful place in our hearts again. That is what worship is! We praise him for who he his, for what he has done, and for what he will do.
Another way to put God in his rightful place is through obedience. When we obey God, it is an acknowledgement of his authority over us.
What better way is there to start this week than with Worship and Obedience?
I saw a church sign that read "Lent is Spring Training for Christians". I think that is a pretty accurate description of what I'm trying to do here. I want to use Holy Week as a way to take some time to prepare my heart to follow Jesus this year.
This is what I encourage you to do today:
- Welcome Jesus into your heart with worship. Just like Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem with worship, you can welcome him into your heart as well. One of the best ways to defeat the temptations and desires of our sinful nature is to glorify God. The sinful nature wants nothing to do with that! Worship is a powerful heart opener. So set aside some time today to meet privately with God and give him glory in your life. Whether that means making music, listening to music, writing music, or just saying out loud how much he means to you and how deserving he is. Your soul knows how to glorify its Creator it your own personal way. It does not matter what is going on in your life right now, God is still worthy of your worship. He does not have to earn it, because he already has. So give him the glory he deserves, as a way to welcome him into your heart this week and for the coming year.
- As far as obedience goes, there is not much preparatory work to that. When God tells you to do something, you do it. But you can reflect on our story today, and use it as a reminder that God needs to be obeyed even when we don't know what on earth he's doing.
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