Holy days of the church year - Lent season and Easter time

Writer: 
Liisa Rossi

Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the last day before the Lent, a seven-week fast before Easter. On Shrove Tuesday we eat until our bellies are full of fatty and sweet treats and have a joyous feast before a serious time of introspection. Especially in Catholic countries, big carnivals are celebrated during Lent. By the way, the origin of the word carnival already refers to the giving up of meat, i.e. the beginning of fasting. In northern countries, Carnival parades are replaced by the joy of downhill skiing.

Shrove Tuesday is followed by Ash Wednesday, when the Lent, a 40-day fast is entered. However, if you count the days until Easter, you will notice that there will be a total of 46. This is because Sunday is not counted as fasting days. The name of Ash Wednesday comes from the ashes that symbolize fasting. In many churches, it is customary to draw an ash cross on the forehead during the service as a sign of confession and forgiveness of sins.

But what exactly is the purpose of Lent? The first thing that comes to mind is restricting what you eat, and it is true that in the Bible, fasting usually means fasting from food. But not only that. Lent is above all a spiritual journey, the core of which is not giving up something, but giving up something for the sake of something better. When we simplify our lifestyles, the less important things make room for the most important things.

During Lent, we are invited to put our priorities in order in life. It is a good opportunity to focus on self-examination, confessing sins and making the necessary changes. But the most important thing is that fasting invites us to turn our eyes from ourselves to God and focus on Him, for example by clearing time and space for Bible reading and prayer. Lent is a preparation for the biggest celebration of Christians.

  • Read from the Bible: Joel 2:13 (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday we gather in churches to sing "Hosanna to the son of David!" Holy Week begins, the great week - the last week before Easter. We follow the events of the last days of Jesus' earthly life. The crowds greeted Jesus riding a donkey as a king, shouting Hosanna to Him, a plea for help to the king. After all, the prophet Zechariah had predicted that the Messiah, the king who will save his people, will be humble and will arrive on the back of a donkey. The people greeted Jesus by waving palm branches and throwing their clothes on the road.

Jesus did not arrive in the royal city at a random time, but precisely during the Jewish Passover festival, when Jerusalem was full of pilgrims. The Jewish leaders were nervous, fearing mass riots. They thought Jesus was a troublemaker who needed to be gotten rid of, but Jesus was too popular to be captured just like that. But soon after Palm Sunday, a twist happened - the week turned into a path of suffering, a path of the cross for the King of Glory.

Maundy Thursday

On Maundy Thursday we remember Jesus' last meal with his friends. The Jews ate this Passover meal to commemorate their liberation from slavery in Egypt, but Jesus instituted a new meal for his own followers: the Lord's Supper. He taught that in the bread and wine we receive His body and blood, which He gave for the forgiveness of our sins.

On the evening of Maundy Thursday, the leaders of the people got the opportunity to capture Jesus, when one of His own disciples, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus. Before his imprisonment, Jesus prayed in agony in the garden of Gethsemane, but even his closest friends could not be supportive and fell asleep. When the captors came, Peter first tried to defend Jesus with a sword, but eventually everyone fled and left Jesus alone. Later, Peter even denied knowing Jesus three times.

Good Friday

On Good Friday we remember Jesus' death on the cross. He was wrongfully convicted, scourged, mocked and crucified. Crucifixion was an extremely painful and shameful way of death. What makes Jesus' suffering incomprehensible to us is that He was completely alone, rejected even by God, carrying the sin and darkness of the whole world. Something happened that seems impossible: God died and He was buried.

Remembering the cruel and bloody crucifixion can seem brutal, but it becomes understandable when you look at it in the context of Christianity as a whole. Mankind had fallen into sin and been separated from God and lost peace and purpose in life. Therefore, the world is full of selfishness, greed, sickness, strife and hopelessness. Man cannot fix the situation by himself, but God loved the people he created so much that he wanted to fix the situation himself. That is why He sent His only Son Jesus as a man.

Jesus lived a perfect life, but agreed to take on our guilt. What felt like the biggest loss turned out to be a victory. With his death, Jesus defeated the power of evil and sin that binds us. He took our punishment upon Himself. He redeemed us. His death enables us to live. No matter how much distress and pain we are in, we need never be left alone in the darkness, rejected and cursed by God. That is why the cross of Jesus is a sign of the greatest love for us.

Easter

When Jesus was dead and buried on Friday and Saturday's sabbath was over, some women went early on Sunday morning to Jesus' tomb. They went there to mourn, but to their surprise they found an empty tomb and an angel telling them that Jesus had risen from the dead. After that, the resurrected Jesus appeared to his friends several times, so that they were convinced that He was really alive. That's what we celebrate at Easter: Jesus has conquered death. The power of sin and evil has been defeated. Whatever comes up in life - loneliness, pain, fear, darkness, hopeless silence - they don't have the last word. The last word is said by the risen Jesus, the One who gives us and the whole world joy, future and hope.

Because Easter is such a big celebration, the whole Easter week is a week of joy. On Monday, the second day of Easter, we remember the appearance of the resurrected Jesus to his disciples. As a whole, the festive Easter season lasts until Pentecost.

Especially for children, chocolate eggs are an important part of the Easter celebration. The egg has been a symbol of resurrection since early times. It looks cold and dead on the outside, but inside there is new life; as Jesus was dead in the tomb, but on Sunday morning the tomb was empty, and He had truly risen from the dead.

Ascension Day

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days. They could see that Jesus had really risen bodily - He was eating, drinking and talking. Then Jesus was taken up into heaven, and now He sits on His throne victorious and ruling the whole world. Before his ascension, Jesus gave his disciples the command to proclaim the gospel to all the people of the whole world. An impossible task for a small group of ordinary people, but fortunately Jesus promised to be with them. Jesus who ascended to heaven can be with each of us, always and everywhere.

Pentecost

Before entering heaven, Jesus promised his disciples to send the Holy Spirit as a defender and comforter, to teach and recall the words of Jesus. The promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place ten days after the ascension, when Jesus' disciples and a large number of other people had gathered in the Jerusalem temple to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, commemorating the giving of the ten commandments. The Bible describes how a sound like the Roaring of a Mighty windstorm came from Heaven

and the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples like tongues of fire. They were filled with the Spirit and began to proclaim the message of Jesus. Although there were people from different parts of the eastern parts of the Roman Empire, everyone heard their own mother tongue being spoken. That day thousands began to believe in Jesus and were baptized. Pentecost has been called the birthday of the Christian Church. Now Jesus had sent the promised Spirit, and the church could begin to fulfill its mission: to proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the whole world. Without the Holy Spirit, that work would be impossible, but the Holy Spirit gives faith, connects Christians to Jesus and unites all believers into one big family of God.

  • Read from the Bible: Acts 2:1-41 (ESV, Bible Gateway)
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