Traditionally the church calls the week prior to Easter, Holy Week. A time to meditate and learn what happened to Jesus Christ during this period. If we consolidate the writings in all four gospels carefully, we can see that Jesus had a very tight schedule during Holy Week. Beginning on Palm Sunday, Jesus, in accordance with the prophecies in the Old Testament, entered Jerusalem riding a donkey. People laid their clothes and palm branches on the ground and shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” The people happily welcomed Jesus into the city, expecting that Jesus might do something to bring about change. Then it was recorded that Jesus cleansed the temple. He rebuked the people for turning a house of prayer for all nations into a den of thieves. These teachings and reminders created tension that drove the religious leaders to have Him killed.
It was only four days after He entered the city that one of His disciples, Judas, undertook to betray Him. While Jesus and His disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray after the last supper, Judas led soldiers to the garden to arrest Him. Jesus was at once subjected to a series of trials. In one night, Jesus was tried before Annas the high priest, Caiaphas the high priest, and the Council. On the morning of Good Friday, He was brought before Pontus Pilate the Roman Governor and Herod Antipatris for further questioning. He was subsequently returned to Pilate who, three times declared that he did not find Jesus guilty of any offence and attempted to release Him. The crowd, however, insisted that Jesus should be nailed on the cross. He finally succumbed to their demand and handed Jesus to His accusers. Jesus went through, 6 ridiculous trials, one after another, which were all hastily organised. In less than 24 hours from the time of His arrest, He faced 6 trials, and was finally found guilty and sentenced to die on the cross. Why such a rush? What were the religious leaders worried about? What drove them to conduct these all night long trails to decide whether Jesus should live or die.？
After this long and tense night, all of a sudden there is a silent break in the gospels, none of them recorded much about the day after Jesus was buried. The only mention was that the priests asked Pilate to assign soldiers to guard His tomb. Where did Jesus go on that day? What did He do? Had all the disciples gone in hiding? How did they feel at the time? When they watched Jesus being arrested, tried, and then brought to Golgotha, perhaps they might still be clinging to the slightest hope that Jesus would exercise His mighty power and dramatically change the whole situation, turning defeat to victory. However, when they saw Jesus draw His last breath and His body was taken down from the cross, everything seemed to have come to a close. Perhaps they were filled with rage and sadness or with questions why the evil plot had been successful. Perhaps they were frightened, worrying that they might be next? The death of Jesus seemed to represent that darkness had overcome the light. The wishes of those evil people appeared to have prevailed. Jesus’ burial and subsequent absence seemed to have let loose evil over the world, insolently and arrogantly.
All the above is only my imagination and assumption. There is no such record in the Bible, only silence. However, this silence provokes me to consider how I should face the darkness of today’s world when we cannot see Him? How should I respond to this current ridiculous generation?
His disciples, during these darkest and hopeless days, did they not recall that Jesus had foretold them on many occasions about His resurrection? Could they grasp His promise and wait for His second coming?
Pastor Benjamin Cho