Rejoicing in the Opportunity to Observe Holy Week: The Most Important Week in history!

What do you think of when you hear the term “Holy Week?” As a person raised in the church, I understandably think of the period of time from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. More on that later.

However, to a group of friends whom I have grown to know over the last 30 years, “holy week” (small letters) has a different meaning. For this group of fishing friends, “holy week” is the third week in July on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. This group of guys, who love to fish, migrate from the lower 48 to the Kenai because the sockeye, or red salmon, start hitting the peak of their run for the year, usually around this time. And if you are a fisherperson, I know a number of them, catching a 6-10 pound red salmon on a fly rod is a thrill. The official count by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for 2023 is that 2,351,020 red salmon returned to just the Kenai River. We have had a similar count for a number of years.

So, if you are an avid fisherperson, and if you are on the river at just the right time, you may have the opportunity to fight a fish every 2 or 3 or 4 casts. But the key is “IF.” Sometimes fewer fish return. Sometimes the fish come late, or early. Sometimes a person can cast into the river for hours and have few hits, or even none.

Nevertheless, the last half of July, the fisher-PEOPLE return to the Kenai Peninsula almost like committed worshipers. The FISH have their own schedule. But, my friends have arrived every year for almost 40 years, full of faith and full of hope that the salmon will return. When I think of the term “holy week,” I now also think of my fishing friends and our salmon fishing. You may ask, “Jonathan, you are a PASTOR! What does fishing have to do with Jesus’ church?” (Well . . . don’t get me going!)

But, I do have a question for YOU. If you have a passion, whether fishing, or sports, or sewing, or family, or reading, or something else, do you give the same attention to the events of Jesus’ last week before His crucifixion that you have for your hobbies and interests?

Jesus is the Son of God whom our Heavenly Father, as early as Genesis 3:15, promised to send to save His children from their sin. Jesus was born miraculously, through the Virgin Mary. He lived a holy life of obedience and love, fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament about the Messiah. As the Son of God, Jesus performed miracles which called people to faith, to trusting the Lord with their lives. All history before Jesus pointed to Him as the fulfillment of our Lord’s promises. All history since says that the events of Holy Week, the events of Palm Sunday, of Jesus disputing with the religious leaders in the temple, of Jesus’ foot-washing and instituting of the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday, the events of Jesus’ arrest and His sham trial, His beating and whipping, and His crucifixion, these events are the most important events in the history of the world. On the cross, Jesus, the Son of God and the promised Messiah, cried out as He bowed His head, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) All the promises of God’s love and forgiveness and salvation were completed, were finished, during the original Holy Week.

Perhaps you know that I am an avid fisherman. I look forward to each fishing outing, whether on the river, or the ice, or the lake, or the ocean. I relish the opportunity to enjoy our Heavenly Father’s Creation. I enjoy the challenge to fill a freezer. So, do Jesus’ followers look forward just as passionately to observing Holy Week, the most important week in history? Will you be in worship on Sunday to wave your palms? Will you celebrate the Lord’s Supper this year on the night Jesus instituted this gift of grace? Will you watch with others on Good Friday, moved by the love of Jesus which led Him to die for our sins, and the sins of the whole world? Are you looking forward to remembering God’s love as you observe Holy Week this year???

When the Kenai River “holy week fishing” is really good, I can delight in filling my freezer by catching fish. But, this coming week we observe Jesus’ last week of life, the week when he cried, “It is finished.” Are YOU looking forward to the celebration of Holy Week 2024? Will you observe these most important events in history?

A Child of God, Rejoicing in the Opportunity to Observe Holy Week – The Most Important Week in HISTORY!