Every spring, my kids and I make some kind of 10-day calendar to commemorate the last week Jesus was on the earth. Sometimes it’s a scroll. Sometimes it’s a booklet of construction paper stapled together. One year they put on a play with their stuffed animals. But every year, there is Scripture. We look at the Scriptures for that day, and the children will write something and draw something that represents that event. It has been a good way to make Holy Week a very regular and “normal” celebration in our home.
Tucked away in the pages of the Gospel of Mark, the NIV Study Bible offers a timeline and map of those earth-changing events (pages 1524-5). The journey to the cross actually begins with the Friday before Palm Sunday; Jesus arrived in Bethany before the Passover so He could spend time with his friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He was anointed with expensive perfumes by Mary, not only to show her devotion and service to Him, but also a sign of what was to come. His death and burial.
In a world where secular celebrations get the headlines, let’s use this important time on the Christian calendar to remember the events preceding the death, burial, and of course, resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. God in the flesh Who came to earth for you and me.
Here is a list of Scripture readings to use with your own families in preparation for the greatest event of all human history – the day the grave was overcome with the resurrection of Jesus the Christ!!
I pray it’s a good week for you and your families. Let’s focus on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 2)!!
