🌴 Palm Sunday
Churches hold processions, and people wave palm leaves and sing "Hosanna" (a shout of praise). Many congregations give out small palm crosses, made from palm leaves, to keep until the next Lent.
Christianity: Celebration and Pilgrimage » Lent and Holy Week
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2, 2.1 (Christianity)
- The events of Holy Week in the Gospels, up to Jesus' arrest
- How Christians keep Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday
- Why these days matter, and how Churches keep them differently
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Unlock This CourseLent: forty days of preparation
Easter is the most important festival in the Christian year, and Christians prepare for it. This preparation is called Lent. It lasts forty days and begins on Ash Wednesday. Christians remember how Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness before his ministry began, praying, fasting and facing temptation. Lent is a time to copy him.
Key terms:
- Lent: the forty days of prayer, fasting and giving before Easter.
- Ash Wednesday: the first day of Lent. Many Christians have a cross of ash marked on their forehead as a sign of sorrow for sin.
- Fasting: going without food, or without a treat, for religious reasons.
- Holy Week: the week before Easter Sunday, when Christians remember the last days of Jesus' life.
- Palm Sunday: the Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. It begins Holy Week.
- Maundy Thursday: the Thursday of Holy Week, when Christians remember the Last Supper. "Maundy" comes from a Latin word meaning "commandment".
- Good Friday: the Friday of Holy Week, when Christians remember the crucifixion.
- Gethsemane: the garden where Jesus prayed on the night he was arrested.
- Stations of the Cross: a series of pictures or carvings showing Jesus' journey to the cross, with a prayer at each one.
🙏 Prayer
Many Christians pray more, go to extra services or read the Bible each day.
🍞 Fasting
Some give up a favourite food or habit. Others fast more strictly on set days.
🎁 Giving
Many give money or time to charity, such as through Lent boxes, to help people in need.
The events of Holy Week in the Gospels
The Gospels spend a great deal of space on the last week of Jesus' life. Mark's Gospel is used here. The trials, death and resurrection are covered in the lesson on the trials, death and resurrection of Jesus, so this lesson stops at the arrest.
- The entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-10). Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Crowds spread cloaks and branches on the road and shouted praise. They welcomed him as a king.
- The Last Supper (Mark 14:12-25). Jesus ate the Passover meal, the Jewish festival meal, with his twelve disciples. He broke bread and shared wine, saying they were his body and his blood. John's Gospel adds that Jesus washed his disciples' feet and told them to love and serve one another (John 13).
- Prayer in Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42). Jesus took three disciples to the garden. He was deeply distressed and prayed that God would spare him, but also "not what I will, but what you will". The disciples kept falling asleep.
- The betrayal by Judas (Mark 14:43-50). Judas, one of the twelve, arrived with an armed crowd sent by the chief priests. He had agreed a sign: he kissed Jesus to show them who to arrest. Jesus was arrested and the disciples ran away.
After this came the trials, the crucifixion and the resurrection.
How Christians keep Holy Week
🍷 Maundy Thursday
The evening service remembers the Last Supper, and Holy Communion (sharing bread and wine in church to remember the Last Supper) is often shared. In many churches the priest or minister washes the feet of others, copying Jesus' act of service. Some churches then strip the altar (remove its cloths and decorations to show sadness) and sit quietly to remember Gethsemane.
⚡ Good Friday
This is the most solemn day. Services are quiet and often simple, with readings of the crucifixion and a cross to look at or kneel before. Many Christians fast. Churches often hold a three-hour service at midday, and Catholics and Anglicans may walk the Stations of the Cross.
🚶 Walks of witness
Christians from different churches in a town may carry a wooden cross through the streets. They stop to pray, sing and read the story. This is a public way to show their faith.
It is called "Good" Friday because Christians believe Jesus' death brought good for the world, as it opened the way for forgiveness. This is why the day is solemn but not hopeless.
Different understandings today
- Catholic Christians: keep Lent seriously, with ashes on Ash Wednesday, fasting and abstaining (going without meat) on set days, and extra prayer. Good Friday is a day of fasting.
- Orthodox Christians: keep a long, strict fast called Great Lent, giving up meat and dairy foods on many days. Holy Week, which they call Great Week, has long services nearly every day.
- Anglican Christians: keep Lent and Holy Week with ashes, special services and Stations of the Cross, though how strictly varies between churches and people.
- Some other Protestant Churches: mark Lent simply, perhaps with a study group or giving, or not at all. Many do not think God requires set fasts, and they stress that every day is for following Jesus. Most still hold Good Friday services.
Christians who keep these days say they help them share in Jesus' journey, grow closer to God and think about their own lives. Those who do not keep Lent usually agree that the events matter. They disagree about whether the Church should set special days and rules.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the days. Palm Sunday is the entry, Maundy Thursday is the Last Supper, Good Friday is the crucifixion.
- Saying all Christians give up something for Lent. Some Churches do not mark it.
- Listing what happens on each day without saying why it matters to Christians.
Exam-style question
(a) Outline two ways in which Christians celebrate Lent and Holy Week. [4 marks]
(b) Explain why Maundy Thursday is important for Christians. [6 marks]
(c) "Christians should keep Lent." Discuss this statement, considering the arguments for and against. In your answer you should include: reference to teachings; other (divergent) points of view; your opinion or point of view using reasoned arguments. [10 marks]
Model answer
(a) Many Christians fast or give something up during Lent (1), copying Jesus' forty days in the wilderness (1). On Palm Sunday churches hold processions with palm leaves and give out palm crosses (1), which remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem (1).
(b) Maundy Thursday remembers the Last Supper, so it is important because it is when Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples (1). This is the origin of Holy Communion, which Christians still share to remember him (1). It matters because Jesus washed his disciples' feet and told them to love one another, so it is an example of humble service (1). The word Maundy means commandment, which shows Christians are meant to obey that teaching (1). It also leads into Gethsemane and the betrayal by Judas, so the day shows Jesus accepting what was to come (1). Churches mark the day with foot-washing, which lets believers act out the example themselves (1).
(c) Plan. For: Lent copies Jesus' forty days in the wilderness; fasting, prayer and giving help believers grow closer to God and prepare for Easter; Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican traditions have kept it for centuries; it teaches self-control and care for the poor. Against: some Protestants say the Bible does not command Lent, and faith matters more than rules; giving up chocolate can become a habit with no real meaning; Christians should follow Jesus all year, not only for forty days. Possible conclusion: Lent is not required by the Bible, but it is a helpful way to follow Jesus' example, so Christians who find it useful should keep it, while others may keep the same spirit in other ways.
Exam tip
In a 6-mark Explain question on a day in Holy Week, name the event, then say what it teaches Christians and what they do to remember it.