Dr Paul Allen

Holy Week is an anticipation of the Lord’s paschal mystery.  Pascha   is an ancient way to speak of the events of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. It is a Greek word corresponding to the Hebrew   pesah , which means “pass over.” In the Jewish tradition, this word refers to the angel of death   passing over   the homes in Egypt marked with the blood of a spotless lamb and also to God’s people   passing through   the Red Sea to escape Pharaoh’s army. Both meanings are present in Holy Week: Christ is the Lamb of God who causes death to  pass over  those marked with his blood, and he  passes through  the “Red Sea” (i.e., the grave) to deliver us from death, thereby defeating death by death. We celebrate Easter on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover. Holy Week: A journey through the Passion Narrative Each day of Holy Week is significant. The Four Gospels, taken together, cover about three decades. However, most of the text in ...

The Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Because it’s easy to limit our reflection and meditation on the resurrection of Christ only to Holy Week , we’ve been doing some post-Resurrection -Day reflection on the significance of the resurrection. Two weeks ago, we looked at some theological and practical implications of the resurrection as it relates to the person of Christ . Last week, we began considering the significance of the resurrection for believers . There we learned that the resurrection is the ground of our regeneration, the ground of deliverance from death’s fearful slavery, and the very foundation of the Gospel. But that’s not all. There are more benefits the resurrection brings for the believer in Christ. The Holy Spirit Fourth, the resurrection guarantees the New Covenant ministry of the Holy Spirit. In his Pentecost sermon, Peter is explaining the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit that has manifested in the disciples speaking in languages they had never...

What is the significance of the resurrection for believers? What implications does the resurrection have for the people of God ? In fact, every aspect of our salvation—our regeneration, our justification, our sanctification, and our glorification—is tied in some way to Christ ’s resurrection from the dead. The Ground of Regeneration 1 Peter 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead .” Peter says our new birth comes  through  the resurrection of Christ. Our new spiritual life that is born in our regeneration has its source in Christ’s resurrection life. And we are made to share in that resurrection life through union with Him. Ephesians 2:5–6 says that while we were dead in our transgressions, God “made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with Him.” Because of the union that believ...

“Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Darkness had descended on Jerusalem . Its residents had finished their Passover meals. The lamb and unleavened bread had been consumed; the sandals, staffs, and belts put away (Exodus 12:1–11). In Caiaphas ’s house, a conference was underway with some members of the Sanhedrin, some officers of the temple guard, and one of Jesus ’s closest friends. In the secluded hillside olive garden of Gethsemane , just outside the city’s eastern wall opposite the temple, Jesus sat with his other eleven closest friends. The eleven friends could not stay awake. Jesus could not sleep. The Great Passover Unveiled Earlier that evening, Jesus had shared with his disciples the most marvelous Passover meal of all time, though his disciples only recognized this in retrospect. Jesus had “earnestly desired” to eat it with them (Luke 22:15). For the Great Passover, the one for which the Passove...

The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) It was the palm branches that made this day unique, and then again, it wasn’t. For centuries, the church has memorialized today, the first day of Holy Week , as Palm Sunday because of the palm branches and cloaks that the people spread out before Jesus as he entered Jerusalem . The Gospel writers tell us a crowd gathered, gushing with excitement, and lined the road in front of Jesus as he slowly rode into the city. As he made his way, one step at a time by the beast of burden on which he sat, a sort of carpet was being sewn together ahead of him. Fresh, green palm branches, presumably picked from nearby trees, and thick, worn clothing, likely from the backs of the crowd, formed a tapestry of endearment toward Israel ’s long-awaited Messiah . And according to the Pharisees , this was a problem. What the People Said But actually, it wasn’t the palm branches that were...