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Lent is a period of 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays). This period marks the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting and praying in the desert before the start of his ministry. Nowadays the Church uses this as a time for fasting and praying in preparation for Holy Week. That’s why people often give up some sort of food or drink during Lent. It is also the reason for feasting the day before Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent.
The previous day is Shrove Tuesday (shriving is about confessing and absolution) when food in the larder is used up. This is Mardi Gras / Carnival / Pancake Day, a last chance for feasting and fun before the solemnity of Lent. The ash in Ash Wednesday comes from the practice of marking the forehead with the ashes of the previous year’s palm crosses - as a sign of repentance.
The fifth Sunday of Lent is Passion Sunday and marks the beginning of contemplating Jesus’ suffering and death. When congregations celebrate Palm Sunday on the sixth Sunday of Lent, it is possible for Sunday worship to underplay contemplation of the Passion (a technical term for Jesus’ suffering and death) of Holy Week. Passion Sunday provides an opportunity for solemn reflection of the great cost of unconditional love.
Palm Sunday is the start of Holy Week and this is a joyous time of welcoming Jesus just as the people did when he entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. It is poignant that only a few days later, the people were calling for Jesus to be crucified.
The name ‘Maundy’ Thursday refers to the start of a Latin version of a saying of Jesus in John 13:34 ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another’. This is the day of the Last Supper when Jesus shared a final meal of bread and wine with his disciples. It is also the day when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, when he agonised in the Garden of Gethsemane about staying obedient to God’s will and when Judas handed over Jesus to the authorities in an act of betrayal.
Good Friday is the day commemorating Jesus’ death by crucifixion. This dreadful death as a criminal only becomes ‘good’ when it is seen in the eyes of faith as the way that God’s forgiving love is at work.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 NRSV
Some churches make use of a tradition of ‘stations of the cross’ showing events attributed to Good Friday (not all of them Biblical) in 14 scenes to inspire reflection and contemplation:
- Jesus is condemned to death
- Jesus receives the cross
- Jesus falls – for the first time
- Jesus meets his mother Mary
- Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
- Veronica wipes Jesus' face with her veil
- Jesus falls – for the second time
- Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
- Jesus falls – for the third time
- Jesus is stripped of his clothes
- Jesus is nailed to the cross
- Jesus dies on the cross
- Jesus' body is removed from the cross
- Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb
Holy Saturday is a day to remember Jesus’ body laid in the tomb. The mood is bleak. Part of the Apostles’ Creed refers to Good Friday and Holy Saturday in a matter-of-fact way that ignores emotional response: …suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
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