Passion Week, or Holy Week is an important week in the life of the Christian. There is nothing intrinsically holy about any particular set of days, but many Christians recognize the week of Christ's suffering as a special week to commemorate each year. The term 'passion' has come to mean something today that has little | First Presbyterian Church, Villa Rica, PCA

April 8, 2020

Passion Week, or Holy Week is an important week in the life of the Christian. There is nothing intrinsically holy about any particular set of days, but many Christians recognize the week of Christ’s suffering as a special week to commemorate each year. The term ‘passion’ has come to mean something today that has little to do with it’s origins:

1125–75; Middle English (< Old French) < Medieval Latin passiōn- (stem of passiō) Christ’s sufferings on the cross, any of the Biblical accounts of these (> late Old English passiōn), special use of Late Latin passiō suffering, submission, derivative of Latin passus, past participle of patī to suffer, submit; see -ion

The original meaning of the word best describes the week that Christ chose to endure for his elect. He chose to suffer. He came to die. Even after he sent his disciples to fetch the colt he would ride into Jerusalem, he looked at the city and wept. (Luke 19:41) As Jesus rode into Jerusalem in what has become known as ‘the Triumphal Entry”, his heart likely still broke for the people of the city. He knew he would be driving the ‘robbers’ from the temple. He knew of the betrayal of Judas, of the denial by Peter and the other disciples, of the suffering he would undergo at the hands of his own people; and he wept —not for himself, but for them, for their pain they would feel as a result of their actions. He would much rather have ‘gathered them together’ and protected them from the next week’s self inflicted torment. But, his ultimate plan was to do exactly that, to gather his people to a place of protection without fear of disease or death, and to live with him forever.

Perhaps the modern language to best describe this week would be “Pain Week”. That is what it was. The following links to resources are provided so that you, if you choose, can spend more time in the Bible than most weeks, spend more time in awe than most weeks, and spend more time in worship than most weeks.

Memory verse for the week: Romans 8:28

²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,^[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.