Holy Week

Resources for Reflection 
Life is extremely busy. One danger for busy Christians is being swept up in all the craziness and neglecting seasons of reflection. Holy Week is a week that deserves sustained reflection. The Easter season is the most glorious season on the Christian calendar. Christ's death on Friday and Sunday Resurrection make our faith. This year, Good Friday falls on the April 3 which is the likely date on which Jesus died nearly two thousand years ago. For a convincing case of April 3, 33 as the date of Jesus' death see this article here.   Below are a few recent  resources that I have found especially beneficial in contemplation and celebration of our Lord's Passion and victorious Resurrection.

The Final Days of Jesus

Justin Taylor and Andreas Köstenberger have coauthored an excellent resource for Passion Week with their book The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived. Justin Taylor works with Crossway and has had a hand in editing several volumes. Andreas Köstenberger is a leading Johannine scholar and has written multiple volumes concerning John's writings. His contribution to the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series, John is excellent. He is the editor of Zondervan's Biblical Theology of the New Testament Series and author of its inaugural volume, A Theology of John's Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the Son of God. Köstenberger is my favorite New Testament scholar and I've personally gleaned so much from his writings (his commentary on John's Gospel is my personal favorite and his theology of John is superb). Köstenberger has shared his own list of Easter resources available on his site here.

The Final Days of Jesus is a chronological arrangement of Holy Week in the Gospel accounts. It also includes helpful graphs, maps and commentary. I worked through this volume during Holy Week last year and drank in its riches. 

Daily Videos
The second resource is a video series done by Crossway. These videos accompany The Final Days of Jesus but will work well as stand alone vignettes if you don't read the book. They feature several leading, conservative New Testament scholars including Andreas Köstenberger, Doug Moo and Grant Osborne.  These vignettes make for excellent daily supplements for reading each day's events of Holy Week in Scripture.

Palm Sunday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Palm Sunday from Crossway on Vimeo.

Monday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Monday from Crossway on Vimeo.

Tuesday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Tuesday from Crossway on Vimeo.

Wednesday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Wednesday from Crossway on Vimeo.

Thursday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Thursday from Crossway on Vimeo.

Friday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Friday from Crossway on Vimeo.

Saturday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Saturday from Crossway on Vimeo.

Resurrection Sunday:

The Final Days of Jesus: Resurrection Sunday from Crossway on Vimeo.


N.T. Wright on the Resurrection
Another very helpful resource is N.T. Wright. Wright is a leading voice on the Resurrection having authored a standard work with his tome,  The Resurrection of the Son of God. Some video resources that I have benefited from during the Easter season are his lecture on the Resurrection and his documentary on the Resurrection.


Lecture: "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?"

 

Documentary: "Resurrection"