What a Week!
Holy Week
by Brian Radcliffe
Suitable for Key Stage 2
Aims
To consider why the week leading up to Easter Sunday is so important for Christians.
Preparation and materials
- None required.
Assembly
- Explain that about 60 years ago, there was a popular TV programme called That Was the Week That Was.
The programme looked back over things that had happened in the world during the past week and looked at the funny side of those events. - Being able to look back at past events is a great advantage when we’re considering the present, whether those events happened over the past week or took place hundreds of years ago. We can see the consequences of words spoken, of actions committed, of plans made, which puts us in a better position to judge.
- Over two thousand years ago, there was a week of events that Christians believe shaped the course of history. Christians call that week Holy Week. It begins on what is known as Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Day.
The focus of the week is the actions and words of the central character, Jesus, a travelling preacher who arrived in Jerusalem with his group of followers. - Holy Week started with a popular welcome into the city on what has become known as Palm Sunday. We can imagine it like the parade for a cup-winning football team, when vehicles and people fill the streets in celebration. The week continued with Jesus’ arrest, death and resurrection - a miracle to defy all miracles. Jesus appeared again - no longer dead, but alive! - and Christianity was born.
Time for reflection
When we consider any historical event, we should ask some important questions.
First, did the events really happen? Historians point to records that reflect the historical accuracy of much of the story of Holy Week. Many of the characters appear elsewhere in the history of that time.
What about the climax to the story: a crucifixion and then a resurrection? If Jesus’ dead body disappeared from the tomb where it was buried, where did it go? If the Romans or Jewish religious leaders had taken the body to stop the tomb from becoming a shrine, they could simply have shown it to those asking to see it. If the disciples had stolen the body, the truth would have leaked out eventually. They wouldn’t all have been willing to die, as many did, in support of a lie. Perhaps Jesus wasn’t even dead when he was placed in the tomb? The descriptions of him being flogged, crucified and having his side pierced with a spear make this unlikely. The only alternative is that Jesus did rise again to life. But to what purpose?
For Christians, the death and resurrection of Jesus was the final part of God’s plan to overcome the evil that troubles all humanity. This evil is the root cause of all that is wrong in our world.
Christians believe that, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, a way opened up for us as individuals to have a relationship with God and begin to tackle the wrongs in our world. They believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection makes a difference to both ourselves and society. That’s why Holy Week is so important to Christians. It’s the week when everything changed.
Song/music
Any song from ‘Worship songs collection for Holy Week’, available at: https://youtu.be/K-HUP1zORic (over 2 hours long)
