Preface

Preface

Coming from a congregational church, I wasn’t schooled in liturgy. Nor was I exposed to any of the other liturgically-based “holy days” in the ecclesiastical calendar. As a congregation, we would sombrely commemorate Christ’s death on Good Friday, triumphantly celebrate His resurrection on Easter Sunday, and joyfully cheer His birth on Christmas Day—the three most important days in the church calendar. But observances of special religious days like Ascension Day, Pentecost Sunday, the monthlong Advent, the six-week-long Lent, or the Holy Week did not feature in our church programme.

It was only after I became the pastor of a church that I was drawn towards the Lenten observance. As pastor, I wanted my congregation to remember not just the two days of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Surely the sacrifice of our precious Lord and Saviour deserves much more deliberation and tribute than just what Good Friday or Easter Sunday would offer. As a people redeemed and saved by Jesus, we are gratitude-bound and motivated by love to devote a lot more time and effort to contemplate and appreciate what Jesus did in the last week of His life, culminating in His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

The Bible does not tell us to observe or to commemorate these events. Historical documents, however, show that the name “Holy Week” was already used in the 4th century (331 AD) by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria (293–373 AD). This indicates that the early believers commemorated this “Great Week” with a feeling of profound sanctity and reverence.1

It is thus good for us to take time out of our busy lives to know more about this last week of Jesus. For during this week, Jesus demonstrated to us “the full extent of his love” (John 13:1 NLT)2 . In this one week, Jesus gives us irrefutable proof that “he loved [us] to the very end” (13:1 NET). It is His unparalleled love that we celebrate this great and holy week.

When I look into the life of our suffering Saviour. I am awed— stumped—by the love of our Saviour, dumbfounded by the extent to which Jesus went to show how much He loves us, even to death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Let us “[fix] our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2–3).

Indeed, we will be so encouraged and strengthened.