Easter week is considered a holy season in Christian circles, no matter the denomination of the faithful.
It is the week considered the foundation on which the doctrinal base of the Christian faith rests.
According to the New Testament accounts, the Easter holidays week culminates in the Good Friday when the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified on the cross and breathes His last.
The faithful observing the season take part in elaborate ceremonies to relive the chronology of events that are recorded to have preceded the arrest, trial and eventual execution of Jesus.
The ceremonies start on the Sunday preceding the Easter weekend. The Sunday is called Palm Sunday. On this day, the New Testament records, Jesus made a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the historic Jewish capital.
During the procession, Jesus rode on a donkey and was greeted by a crowd that sang His praises, laying down their garments and palm leaves on the path He took. That is the genesis of Palm Sunday.
Later in the week the Lord would be arrested and put on trial instigated by radical religious figureheads.
He would be swiftly convicted and sentenced to death by hanging on the cross. This happened on a Friday afternoon and by 3pm He had passed on. This is why Christians observe Good Friday.
The holy book records that one noble in the name of Joseph of Arimathea offered his tomb to have Jesus buried in it.
Three days after burial, early Sunday morning, Jesus resurrected. A few of the women who were part of his ministry and a couple of his disciples visited the tomb and found it empty.
The happenings of the Easter week have formed the basis for the Christian faith for thousands of years.
It is the blood Jesus shed on that cross that set humanity that believed and followed Him free from sin. It heralded salvation and redemption from sin because Jesus accepted death on behalf of sinful humanity.
Only those who accept His message and believe in the import of His work get bequeathed the historic spiritual dividends of His act on the cross.
After rising from the grave, Jesus appeared to his disciples. He bore the marks of the nails in his hands. The Bible says that at the end of the age, when all believers gather in heaven, they will see those marks.
