Apr. 22, 2026
Dear Friends,
I hope you can join us tonight for Bible study as we will continue to study some of the events, along with a calendar, of Holy Week. (Tonight is part 5.) Notes are attached.
LIVING THE CHRISTLIFE
WAYNE BARRETT
APRIL 22, 2026
Holy Week
The Week that Changed the World
pt. 5
Day(s) Events (selected) Scripture
Palm Sunday This will be the focus of this Sunday,
and so not as much attention will be
given to it this evening.
Matt. 21:1-11; Mk. 11:1-10; Lk. 19:28-40; Jn.
12:12-15
Mon-Tue Many teachings and events
Holy Wednesday Jesus predicts his suffering
Supper in Bethany at the house of
Simon the leper
The plot to kill Jesus is finalized
Matt. 26:6-13; Mk 14:3-9; Jn 12:1-6
Matt. 26:3-5,14-16; Mk 14:1-2,10-11; Lk.
22:1-6; Jn. 12:9-11
Maundy Thursday
Passover, or Feast
of Unleavened
Bread
Place prepared for Last Supper
Judas revealed as the betrayer
Jesus washes the apostles’ feet—and
institutes servanthood as a model
Jesus blesses the bread and cup—and
institutes the Lord’s Supper
Jesus’ words to Peter
Jesus’ vast teachings, including his
High Priestly Prayer
The departure to the Mount of Olives,
then to Gethsemane
Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane
The betrayal of Jesus
Matt. 26:17-19; Mk 14:12-16; Lk. 22:7-13
Matt. 26:20-25; Mk. 14:17-21; Lk. 22:21-23;
Matt. 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20
Matt. 26:33-35; Mk 14:29-31; Luke 22:31-34;
Matt 26:30-32; Mk 14:26-28;Lk 22:35-39;
Matt. 26:36-46; Mk 14:32-42; Lk 22:39-46
Matt. 26:47-56; Mk 14:43-52; Lk 22:47-53;
Good Friday Jesus in custody and before the council
Peter denies Jesus
Jesus before Pilate
Judas hangs himself
Jesus is mocked
The crucifixion of Jesus
The death of Jesus
The side of Jesus is pierced
Jesus is buried
Matt. 26:57-68; Mk. 14:53, 55-65; Lk. 22:63-
71; Jn 18:12-14, 19-24
Matt. 26:69-75; Mk. 14:66-72; Lk. 22:54-62;
Matt 27:1-2, 11-26; Mk. 15:1-15; Lk. 23:1-25;
Matt. 27:27-31; Mk. 15:16-20; Jn. 19:1-5
Matt 27:32-44; Mk. 15:21-32; Lk. 23:26-43;
Matt. 27:45-56; Mk. 15:33-41; Lk. 23:44-49;
Matt. 27:57-61; Mk. 15:42-47; Lk. 23:50-56a;
Saturday
The Sabbath
Passover
The chief priests and Pharisees continue
to scheme with Pilate
The disciples rested
Resurrection Day
Sunday
2
The Death of Jesus
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land [earth] until the ninth hour. 46 And about
the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is
calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a
reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save
him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and
the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and
appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw
the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Sona of
God!”
55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from
Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and
Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold,
he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it
to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus
uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to
bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way heb breathed his last, he
said, “Truly this man was the Sonc of God!”
40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary
the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed
him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,
45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out
with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed
his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this
man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had
taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had
followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar
full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to
a Or a son [ESV]
b Some manuscripts insert cried out and [ESV]
c Or a son [ESV]
3
his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head
and gave up his spirit.
MATTHEW
v 45 – “Now from the sixth hour …”
sixth hour (12 noon), ninth hour (3 PM)
These are, of course, approximate times
Jesus had been on the cross from the third hour (9 AM) – see Mark 15:25
“land” – gé, land, earth, ground
The last three hours of Jesus’ time on the cross were in darkness “over all the land”
Some have said it was an divinely-appointed solar eclipse (by the moon). Perhaps. Or perhaps
God just darkened the sun as a message of judgment upon the world. The state of sin is
described throughout the Scriptures as darkness. It is also described as a condition of a place
of condemnation—see 2 Peter 2:4,17; Revelation 16:10
v 46 – “And about the ninth hour …”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”—Psalm 22:1
Jesus was thinking of the whole Psalm, as when we might be in a hard place and say to ourselves
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The line itself is indeed what we are expressing,
but it also represents what follows—all of Psalm 23.
Psalm 22 begins with several prophetic passages about the crucifixion, but it ends in victory
This being said, there is little doubt that Jesus was crying out with this passage due to his
profound experience of abandonment
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” ~ “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” ~ “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”
Matthew’s account Mark’s account other English translations
Jesus almost certainly spoke Aramaic, as did the others he was around, but Hebrew was used for
worship and readings in the synagogues and the temple
Even so, Jews spoke a version of Aramaic that blended in words and variants of words from both
languages, sort of a “Pennsylvania Dutch”
Also consider that standardization in spelling is a fairly recent, modern development and
concern. You may have not-so-distant relatives who themselves did not always spell their
name the same way—Or the spelling of whose names were changed in order to better match
the way people heard the sounds of that name.
Eli and Eloi
“Eli” is Hebrew for “My God”. “Eloi” represents the Aramaic pronunciation of Eli. Both
witnesses are quoting Jesus accurately: Matthew quoting the word itself (that Jesus
spoke) while using Hebrew spelling, and Mark quoting the same word but reflecting
the Aramaic pronunciation—which Jesus himself probably used at the time.
lema and lama
The Hebrew word for “why” is lama. The Aramaic word is close and could be rendered
lema. (Reminder—neither of these languages use our alphabet, or a Greek alphabet
for that matter.) Furthermore, Jews, speaking in Aramaic, would have pronounced the
word lama like lema! The Greek text renders the word lema—and the ESV translators
went with that spelling. For the very same word, other translators have made the
decision to render it as lama, corresponding to the Hebrew word (and written
spelling) that is being quoted.
sabachthani
This word is Aramaic, meaning “have you forsaken me?” It is close to, probably taken
from, the Hebrew word that is used in Psalm 22:1, which is azabtani. The fact that
4
Jesus used the Aramaic word adds strength to the understanding that his
pronunciation from the cross of the verse would support the “Eloi” and “lema”
rendering of the speech that he used.
v 47 – “And some of the bystanders …”
They did not recognize Jesus’ words. Sorrowfully, it may also be that his speech was impaired
by his awful suffering.
v 48 – “And one of them took a sponge…”
This one, it appears, had compassion for Jesus
“sour wine” – oxous, sometimes translated vinegar, was sour wine, i.e. wine that had gone bad,
mixed with water that was a standard drink/ration for Roman soldiers. For that reason, it
would have been on hand.
v 49 – “But the others said …”
They were nothing but spectators, caring nothing for Jesus—probably finding some enjoyment in
it all
v 50 – “Jesus cried out with a loud voice …”
Further explained in Luke (below)
v 51-53 – And behold, the curtain of the temple …”
Here begins what is perhaps one of the most neglected of the texts about the crucifixion and its
immediate aftermath
The temple curtain, katapetasma, or veil separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place of the
temple.
60 feet high by 30 feet wide
Some traditions say that it was a handbreadth thick and that it took 300 priests to carry it
It was beautifully and artfully woven and decorated
For all of its beauty, the curtain represented a separation from God and his people that could only
be breached once a year—and that by the high priest
In so doing, it also represented and validated that God had ordained a priesthood who were his
intermediaries between himself and his people. While all people could pray, certainly, the
worship of God and the place of worship was conducted and supervised by the priests.
They had special status as God’s representatives.
This helps to inform our understanding of the tremendous truths stated in Peter and
Hebrews and elsewhere regarding the priesthood of the believer.
Beginning in v. 51, in the Greek, each phrase begins with “and,” which establishes a certain
sense of pace and action:
more lit. “And, behold, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom in two, and the
earth was shaken, and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened, and many
bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose, and having gone forth out of the
tombs …”
The earth was shaken such that rocks were split—and this happened in the middle of the
afternoon while in darkness. Earthquakes, in Scripture, often accompany God’s acts of wrath
and judgment upon the earth.
“and the tombs were opened”
perhaps in great part by the earthquake
“and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose …”
This may not have happened immediately, even if the tombs were opened immediately,
since what follows specifies “after his resurrection”
5
Also, Christ is named as the firstfruits in conjunction with his resurrection (1 Corinthians
15:20), and some say that it would not have been possible for the saints to be raised
until Christ had first been raised. However, Jesus, during his public ministry raised
people from the dead more than once—so that argument would not seem to stand up
to scrutiny
But whenever they actually arose, they went into the holy city “after [meta] his
resurrection.”
v 54 – “When the centurion …”
more lit. “they feared greatly, saying “Truly, this was God’s son.”
There is no article here in the Greek, so nothing to make certain “the son of God” or “a
son of God.”
However it was meant, the point is the effect that everything had on some of the roughest
men in the Roman empire
See also Luke 23:48
v 55 – “There were also many women there …”
We don’t know all their names
“at a distance”—perhaps from fear, or from just not being able to bear to see Christ in his
suffering up close
“ministering to him” – ministering women were a faithful component of the disciples (see Luke
8:1-3, “and many others, who provided for them [some manuscripts him] out of their means.”
MARK
v 39 – “the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last”
A little more nuanced information from Mark, as has been the case already, about the position of
the centurion
Also, that the centurion was particularly moved by Jesus himself and how he died
LUKE
v 45 – “when the sun’s light failed”
v 46 – “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
Reported only here
“Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.”—Psalm
31:5
v 47 – centurion “praised God, saying, ‘Certainly this man was innocent!’”
v 48 – “And all the crowds …”
Not just the centurion was moved
The crowd had come for entertainment [theória], but left in grief
v 49 – acquaintances were watching from afar—along with “the women who had followed him from
Galilee”
JOHN
v 28 – “After this Jesus …”
“knowing that all was now finished” – only from John
“said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’” – also, only from John
“They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”—
v 30 – “… he said, It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
more lit. “he said ‘it has been finished,’ and having bowed the head he delivered over
[paradidómi] the spirit.”
John’s poignant ending
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