As Easter approaches I wanted to offer some reading as you go through Lent and prepare for Easter. My most recent columns for Lent and Easter can be found at The Word. 

The Palm Sunday post I link to here from the Bible Junkies blog is a reflection on how quickly our attention can turn from intense interest and focus on Jesus to distraction in the context of a supposed evaluation by an “athletic” scout. When things do not turn out the way we expect, are we willing to be challenged to follow Jesus in all circumstances?

The next four blog posts were posted by me at the Good Word during Holy Week 2011. They are written from the point of view of a disciple who was “there,” inside the events, reflecting on what’s taking place as things are happening. You might want to start reading these posts today or return to them closer to or on the specific days of Holy week to get a sense of how the reflections develop.

Preparation for a Thursday Meal

Jesus’ Death.

Saturday Confusion.

Sunday Rising.

For my writings on Holy Week in the Gospel of Mark commentary,  starting with Palm Sunday, in the context of Jesus’ mission and Old Testament prophecy, please see Act 5, Scene 1.  For the rest of Holy Week, please see the following entries:

Act 6, Scenes 1, 2, 3 (Anointing at Bethany).

Act 6, Scene 4   (Last Supper)

Act 6, Scene 5  (Gethsemane)

Act 6, Scene 6   (Arrest)

Act 6, Scene 7 (Trial before the Sanhedrin)

Act 6, Scene 8   (Peter’s Denial)

Act 6, Scene 9 (Trial before Pilate)  

Act 6, Scene 10 (Crucifixion)

Act 6, Scene 11 (Jesus’ Body laid in the tomb)

Act 6, Scene 12 (Resurrection)

I hope that these reflections aid you in your own spiritual journey through Easter.

 

John W. Martens

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John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.