Holy Week Reading Plan

Zechariah 9:9-10, Luke 19:29-40, John 12:12-26, Revelation 19:11-16

The Triumphal entry of Christ is the initial catalyst of the events to transpire through holy week. The crowds had heard of His coming to Jerusalem. The multitudes gathered with excitement and expectation of the coming of their long-awaited King. This scene was not unlike sports fans that fill an arena, teeming with excitement at the chance to see a legendary athlete perform right before their eyes. The entry of Jesus was not simply an exciting moment that had come unexpectedly, causing a brief uproar of emotion. This specific moment was the bursting forth fulfillment of a half a millennium old prophecy.

“Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zech 9:9
                       
Jesus entered Jerusalem lowly in complete humility. The crowds greeted Him with palm branches and honorable names and praised Him as the King of Israel. You can imagine this experience to be odd for Jesus. While the multitudes declared their love for Him, He knew that His hour was drawing near, and that these same crowds would shout crucify Him instead of Hosanna. Nevertheless, Jesus continues with immense love in His heart and grace in His eyes as He passes by these people. What a day it must have been.

Now, on this side of history, as His sons and daughters, we wait expectantly for another triumphal entry. In Revelation 19, we are promised that He will return, but this entry will not be on a colt, nor will He come lowly. The next Triumphal entry that will transpire will again be Jesus not coming from the wilderness, but from the heavens. He will be on a white horse, with fire in his eyes, holding a blood-dipped robe, with “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” stamped on His thighs to dispense righteous judgment and make all that is wrong eternally set right.

We praise the lowly, humble Savior in His triumph over sin and death.

We praise the triumphant Warrior who is to come.

All Praise, all glory, and all honor belong to You, King Jesus.

[Written by Tyler Golson]

Isaiah 56:7, Psalm 69:9, John 2:13-22, Matthew 21:12-17, John 4:19-26

After Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem, we’re told in Matthew 21:12 that Jesus goes to the temple. For the Jews, the temple was the central place of worship and communion with God. Jesus said that the temple was to be a place of prayer. It was the place where the presence of God dwelled. It was a place that was to be distinct from every other place on earth.

The problem that Jesus encountered was that the merchants and money-changers had perverted the purpose of the temple. They were buying, selling, and exchanging money - all at high rates - in an effort to enrich themselves. This holy establishment had become a marketplace. When confronting these crooked businessmen, Jesus said that they had turned the place into a “den of thieves”. Things were not right!

We see a side of Jesus here in this passage that isn’t often associated with the more mild version of Jesus that many ascribe to presently. The picture of Jesus in this passage is one who is feeling righteous anger over what He sees. And He correctly inserts Himself into this situation that is grievous to His Father. We’re told that he drives out the people who are buying and selling. And, he turns over the tables of the money changers. This must have been quite the sight! What He did was good, right, and necessary. Jesus takes it upon Himself to right what is clearly wrong.

There are certain times and situations where the glory of God and His purposes on earth are under attack. And we must remain open to the fact that in certain situations, we have the responsibility to insert ourselves so that we might return things to the proper order.

Because of Jesus’s actions that day, prayer and worship resumed. The blind and lame were healed. People were brought back into a relationship with God. The purpose of the temple was restored.

[Written by Eric Dicicco]

Psalm 118:22-24, Mark 12:1-12, Ephesians 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2:4-10

What are you rejecting that God has already established as good?
Where have you looked at His design and decided, “I’ll do it differently”?

When I was in Renew, we had a saying, “Consistency breeds stability.” That phrase stuck with me and still carries a lot of weight because, if I regularly obey what is holy, perfect, and foundational, my life will look radically different than what it did pre-Renew.

When we elevate our preferences over His truth, or our feelings over His Word, we aren’t refining His design…we’re resisting it.

And the result is always the same: instability.

The tenant farmers in Jesus’ parable weren’t confused; they were calculated. Every servant who came was a reminder that the vineyard wasn’t theirs. And every time, they chose rejection over submission.

Even when the son came…they killed him, thinking it would secure their future.

It didn’t.

Jesus makes the meaning unmistakable: “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”

This is the danger of pride: it convinces us that rejecting God’s ideas is progress, when it’s actually causing an eventual collapse.

So, don’t reject what the Lord has established as perfect!

The consistency of Christ in our actions, speech, decisions, motivations, and intentions is only possible when our lives are anchored in the stability of His Word and His example.

[Written by Josh Hrinik]

Isaiah 54:5-8, Matthew 22:1-15, Revelation 19:6-9 

It is by design that the first human relationship, established in Eden, was a marriage. Unlike any other relationship, marriage is a spiritual union, entered into willingly by means of a covenant. And this is a picture of the believer’s ultimate destiny- to be united with Christ at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

The Jewish marital tradition at the time of Jesus gives a beautiful picture of the Church’s relationship with her Savior. The groom’s family would pay a bride price (Mohar) to the bride’s family, securing the agreement. Jesus paid this price Himself in His covenantal blood at the crucifixion. There was a marriage contract (Ketubah) which made provision for the bride’s welfare. This was enacted both at Easter with Jesus’ defeat of the grave and at Pentecost with the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The groom would then go to his father’s house to prepare a dwelling place for his bride. The father would determine when the dwelling was ready, and the bride was to wait, without knowing the day or the hour, for the return of her betrothed. The groom’s return would be announced with a trumpet and a shout, after which time the bride would go to the house of the groom’s father for a period of ritual cleansing. This would be followed by the wedding feast.

Easter reminds us that our Betrothed has gone to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house, and we, the bride, are to watch and wait for His return. We have been invited, but we should soberly remember the words of Matthew 22:14- “For many are called, but few are chosen. ”

[Written by Taylor Bowers]

Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 13:7, Matthew 26:20-56, Revelation 12:10-11

Who doesn’t love an awkward meal? The kind where someone says something or does something that makes everyone uncomfortable and silent, uncertain of how to rebound the night’s festivities. At the very last meal Christ will partake of with His closest friends, He kicks off the celebration with a real mood killer. Betrayal! In fact, betrayal will become a very clear theme for the rest of the day’s activity. Jesus will be betrayed by a dear friend and disciple, named Judas. His pleas for prayer will go ignored by His inner circle of closest disciples. One disciple will deny even knowing Him on three separate occasions.

The crowd that once cheered for Him, declaring “Hosana!” will soon yell “Crucify Him!” All His disciples, the Scripture tells us, will forsake Him and flee! Yet, the forsaken Son of Man does not respond to betrayal with a well-deserved berating, but with blessings. It says right after He mentions the betrayal, he breaks bread and blesses the very man who would sell Him out. His friend's denial will be met by His deliverance and restoration. The ignored call to pray will be clarified as beneficial to those who are too tired to participate. The fleeing apostles will be chased down and apprehended by the Savior’s love. The crowds' call for crucifixion will be drowned out by the Savior’s cry for their forgiveness.

The most difficult part of acknowledging our Savior’s treatment is recognizing it didn’t stop after the events of this dark day. We, too, have dipped into the practice of desertion, denial, and disloyalty of our Deliverer. Yet, just like with Judas, the Forsaken Christ doesn’t treat us like a foe, but calls us Friend! His desire isn’t to create awkwardness in us out of an uncertainty of how to approach HIm, but rather a confidence that through His New Covenant, paid for by His sacrifice, we can! This is at the very heart of what Paul tells us in Romans 5:8-10, that while we were still devoted sinners and enemies of God, Christ loved us and died for us. What a Friend He is indeed to those who don’t deserve it!

[Written by Ryan Borkan]

Psalm 22:1-18, Mark 15:1-41, Revelation 5:1-14 

Christ crucified. Blood dripping down the rough wood of a rugged cross as the crowd mocked and the sky turned dark. The sinless Son of God, beaten, broken, and abandoned, breathed His last as the earth shook beneath Him. From every angle, it looked like a loss. It looked like the enemy had won.
But even in the darkest moments, God was writing a story no one could fully comprehend.

What the enemy intended for destruction, God was turning into the greatest rescue mission in human history. Every drop of blood purchased freedom. Every wound pays a debt we could never pay ourselves. For as Scripture declares, "by His wounds we are healed." A crown of thorns pressed into His head. Nail-pierced hands and feet. Thirty-nine lashes on His back, blood spilt for every soul. The ultimate price. The ultimate sacrifice. Jesus, fully God, fully man, laying His life down willingly so that yours could be made whole.

Isn't it true that light shines brightest when the night is darkest? Could it be that God's Word is still true, that He brings beauty from ashes, that He works all things together for those who love Him?

Take heart, Christian. Though Friday is here, Sunday is coming. Death will not have the final word. For as Christ declared from that very cross before His last breath,

It is finished.

"Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me."

Oh death, where is your sting?

[Written by Jesse Gassner]

Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Matthew 27:57-66, Matthew 23:27-39

Matthew 23:37 gives us a unique summary of Jesus’ ministry. He came to gather us. Not like a General gathers his troops, or a banker gathers securities, not like a King gathers his subjects, or a teacher gathers her students. He came to gather us like a mother hen gathers her most precious chicks. An image that communicated the immense love of God and one that reveals the condition we are really in. Imagine a rural road, where a young chick, newly feathered and confident, wanders far from the hen. As dusk approaches, its fate is certain if it cannot find home – certain death. Just when it seems like the chick’s adventure will end in tragedy, the mother Hen comes with wings spread and gathers this little chick unto herself to lead it back to the safety of the coup. It is a beautiful picture of salvation. In Matthew 23, we observe a group of leaders - religious, full of confidence, and entirely lost. A group that has wandered so far from home and is in danger of the same fate as our little chick – certain death. But here comes the Savior, wings spread and ready to gather – but they reject Him.  How could this be? How could any chick reject the tender care and security of the mother hen? Jesus tells us why in Matthew 23:27 – they were dead inside. Filled with silence, darkness, and rebellion. Their insides were a graveyard, and there could only be one solution. The Creator of all things, our God, would have to go to the grave Himself to free us from the grave that exists within us all. He died so that we may have life. He died so that we could be free. He died, so that we, His vulnerable, lost, and rebellious chicks could be gathered under His tender mercy and brought back into His glorious Kingdom. So as we reflect on Jesus being in the grave today, remember why He went there – to save us from the grave deep within us.

[Written by Adam Calabrese]

Daniel 7:13-14, Luke 24:1-53 (Full Chapter), Revelation 1:4-8

The morning of Jesus' resurrection does not break with loud noises, but with quiet wonder. Before the world fully woke, a woman walked with a heavy heart toward what she thought would be a sealed tomb, carrying grief, not hope. Yet in Luke 24, she finds the stone rolled away, and heaven asks a question that still echoes through every generation: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

How often do we do the same, search for life in places where it does not exist, clinging to what has already passed, unaware that God has already moved the stone? The empty tomb is heaven’s declaration that His kingdom cannot be stopped.

Long before that morning in Daniel 7:13–14, he saw it coming, the Son of Man, not defeated but enthroned, receiving a kingdom that will never fade. What looked like loss was always leading to glory. What felt like an ending was in truth the crowning of a king.

And in Revelation 1:4–8, we behold Him fully revealed, the risen Christ, no longer hidden in suffering but radiant in all authority. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the One who stepped into death and walked out holding the keys to lock up sin and Satan.

His resurrection is not only a powerful moment for all, but it is deeply personal. It meets us in our ordinary mornings, in our quiet disappointments, in the places where hope feels buried. Like the disciples, we may not recognize Him at first. Our eyes are often clouded, our hearts slow to believe. Yet He comes near and walks beside us. Always speaking peace into our fear and gently opening the eyes of our hearts.

So today, we rise not because life is easy, but because He is alive.

[Written by Donavan Coughlin]