What is Holy Week?

Short answer

Holy Week is the name Christians give to the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, from His entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to His resurrection on Easter Sunday. In those days He was welcomed as King, taught in the temple, shared the Last Supper with His disciples, was crucified on Friday and rose from the dead on the third day.

The phrase “Holy Week” does not appear in the Bible. It is the name the church gave to the last week of Jesus’ life before Easter. But the Gospels themselves treat this week as the heart of their story: Matthew gives it eight of his twenty-eight chapters, and John nearly half of his Gospel. The Gospels do not label every day, and Christians arrange a few events slightly differently, but the main line is clear.

Palm Sunday: the King on a donkey

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany (John 12:1), and the next day He rode into Jerusalem. He sent two disciples for a donkey and its colt, so that Zechariah’s prophecy would be fulfilled: Zion’s King would come humble and riding on a donkey (Matthew 21:1–7, Zechariah 9:9).

And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Matt 21:8–9 · King James Version (1769)

John MacArthur explains that spreading garments on the road was an ancient way of honoring a king (2 Kings 9:13). Hosanna is a Hebrew cry meaning “save now,” taken with the blessing from Psalm 118 (Psalm 118:25–26); together with the title Son of David, it shows that the crowd was hailing Jesus as the Messiah. John mentions palm branches (John 12:13), which is why the day is called Palm Sunday.

Matthew Henry notes that Jesus came in meekness, not in worldly majesty, and warns how little the applause of crowds is worth: “The changing multitude join the cry of the day, whether it be Hosanna, or Crucify him.” William MacDonald makes the same point: within a week many would be shouting for His death.

The temple and the days of teaching

In Jerusalem Jesus went straight to the temple.

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Matt 21:12–13 · King James Version (1769)

He joined two prophecies: God’s house was meant to be a house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7), but it had become a den of robbers (Jeremiah 7:11). MacDonald sees this as Jesus’ first official act after His entry, a public claim to be Lord of the temple. John records a similar cleansing at the start of His ministry (John 2:13–16). MacArthur takes them as two separate events, and the New Geneva Study Bible also allows that Jesus drove the traders out twice.

The next days were full. Jesus cursed a fruitless fig tree (Matthew 21:18–22), answered the leaders who questioned His authority (Matthew 21:23–27), told parables against them, and on the Mount of Olives spoke to His disciples about the destruction of the temple and His return (Matthew 24:1–3). In Bethany a woman anointed Him with costly ointment, and Jesus said she had done it for His burial (Matthew 26:6–13). Meanwhile Judas agreed to betray Him for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14–16).

Thursday: the Last Supper

On Thursday evening, as MacArthur dates it, Jesus ate the Passover with the Twelve. John begins this night with the love of Jesus for His own (John 13:1) and with something no one expected.

Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
John 13:3–5 · King James Version (1769)

MacArthur explains that washing guests’ feet was the job of the lowest servant, and the disciples would never have thought of doing it for one another. The New Geneva Study Bible points out that Jesus did this not because He forgot who He was, but in full knowledge of where He came from and where He was going. Then He explained what He had done.

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
John 13:14–15 · King James Version (1769)

That same night Jesus took bread and the cup and gave them a new meaning: His body given and His blood of the new covenant poured out for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:26–28). MacArthur and MacDonald both describe this as the moment the last Passover became the first Lord’s Supper. Afterward Jesus prayed in Gethsemane and was arrested there (Matthew 26:36–56).

Good Friday: the cross

Through the night and early morning Jesus was tried before the Jewish council and before Pilate, and He was sentenced to be crucified (Luke 23:1–25). Luke describes His last hours on the cross.

And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Luke 23:44–46 · King James Version (1769)

The sixth hour to the ninth hour is from noon to three in the afternoon. MacArthur notes that the darkness could not have been an ordinary eclipse, because Passover always fell at full moon. The curtain of the temple separated the Most Holy Place from the worshipers. MacDonald and the New Geneva Study Bible both see its tearing as a sign that through Christ’s death the way to God is now open to all who come by faith (Hebrews 10:19–20). Jesus died with the words of a psalm on His lips (Psalm 31:5). MacArthur stresses that He gave up His life of His own will, as He had said He would (John 10:18).

Jesus was buried before evening, and on Saturday the women rested according to the commandment (Luke 23:53–56).

Easter Sunday: He is risen

Early on the first day of the week the women came to the tomb with spices, found the stone rolled away and the body gone (Luke 24:1–4). MacArthur notes that they did not expect a resurrection: they came only to finish anointing a body.

And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
Luke 24:5–7 · King James Version (1769)

The New Geneva Study Bible observes that the Greek literally says Jesus was “raised,” stressing that the Father raised Him. Matthew Henry adds that how the resurrection happened is a mystery, but the proofs that it happened are given to us and to our children.

This is why Holy Week matters. The King who rode into Jerusalem in meekness, who washed His disciples’ feet and died on Friday, was raised on Sunday. His death opened the way to God, and His resurrection shows that the sacrifice was accepted. Holy Week is not only a remembrance of what happened then; it is an invitation to trust the One who did all this for you.