What happened on each day of Jesus' last week?

JesusIn theological review

The short answer

Jesus entered Jerusalem on Sunday to shouts of Hosanna, confronted the temple on Monday, taught and was questioned on Tuesday. In the quieter Wednesday narratives he was anointed and betrayed; he ate the Last Supper and was arrested on Thursday night, was crucified on Friday, lay in the tomb on Saturday, and rose on Sunday morning.

The fuller answer

The last week begins on Sunday with the entry into Jerusalem. Jesus rides a colt down the Mount of Olives while crowds spread cloaks and branches, shouting Hosanna and blessing the coming king, fulfilling Zechariah's picture of a humble ruler. He weeps over the city, inspects the temple and returns to Bethany for the night. Monday turns confrontational: he curses the fruitless fig tree on the road and drives the traders from the temple courts.

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Luke 19:38 (BSB)

Tuesday is the long day of teaching and conflict in the temple. The authorities challenge his authority, and he answers with parables of judgement, traps about taxes, resurrection and the greatest commandment, and finally a public warning against the scribes. From the Mount of Olives he then speaks of the temple's fall and his return. Wednesday is quieter in the accounts: at Bethany a woman anoints his head, and Judas goes to the priests and agrees to betray him.

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

Mark 11:10 (BSB)

On Thursday evening Jesus eats the Passover with the twelve, washes their feet in John's account, gives the bread and cup as his body and blood, and promises the Spirit through the long farewell teaching. Then comes Gethsemane, the kiss, the arrest, and the night hearings before the council, while Peter denies him in the courtyard. Friday brings Pilate, the sentence, the cross at about nine in the morning, darkness at noon, and death before evening.

But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

John 12:23 (BSB)

His body is laid in Joseph's new tomb before the Sabbath begins at sundown, and Saturday passes in silence, the disciples hidden and the women resting as the commandment required, the only movement a guard set at the tomb at the priests' request. On Sunday before dawn the women find the stone moved and the tomb empty, and by evening the risen Jesus has appeared to Mary Magdalene, to two travellers to Emmaus, and to the gathered disciples. The week that began with a king entering his city ends with a grave unable to keep him.

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

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Why did Jesus have to die?Because sin is real, God is holy, and forgiveness is not the same as pretending. Isaiah said the Servant would be pierced for our transgressions and bear our iniquities. Paul says God proved his love in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The cross is where God's justice and God's love meet without either one being set aside.What is the gospel?The gospel is the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ: he died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. It is news before it is advice: a death that pays for sin, a resurrection that proves it, and a living Lord who is to be confessed, believed, and followed.Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?Jesus cursed the fig tree as an acted parable against fruitless religion. The tree had leaves advertising fruit it did not carry, and Mark sandwiches the episode around the temple cleansing so the two explain each other: a splendid temple, busy with worship, that had produced no fruit of prayer or justice was under judgement.Bible Character: JesusThe Son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem, who preached the kingdom of God, was crucified for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was raised on the third day.Bible Character: PeterThe Galilean fisherman who confessed Jesus as the Christ, denied him three times on the night he was betrayed, was restored by the risen Lord, and preached at Pentecost.Bible Character: Mary MagdaleneThe woman delivered from seven demons, who followed Jesus from Galilee and supported his ministry, watched at the cross and the burial, and was the first to see him risen and to carry the news.On the map: JerusalemFind it in the Lands of the Bible, with the verses that place it there.On the map: BethanyFind it in the Lands of the Bible, with the verses that place it there.On the map: EmmausFind it in the Lands of the Bible, with the verses that place it there.On the map: JudahJudah is the southern hill country, with Jerusalem and Hebron as its main centres and Bethlehem as the town of David. It is the setting for Ruth, for much of the kings and prophets, and for the birth of Jesus.