“When Jesus died, the curtain tore. The veil was removed. The way to God is open—once for all.”

Matthew 27:50–51 tells us, “Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” God Himself tore the barrier that had stood for centuries.

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year, carrying the blood of animals to temporarily cover sin. It was sacred, serious, and never enough. But when Jesus died, He fulfilled every detail of that ritual. Jesus was the spotless Lamb, and He was the High Priest. He took His own blood behind the curtain—not to cover sin, but to remove it.

Hebrews 9:12 “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”

Now we don’t need a high priest—we have Jesus, who tore the veil with His own body (Hebrews 10:19–20). The cross didn’t just forgive us. It welcomed us in.

The day the curtain tore wasn’t the end of the story—it was the beginning of your access to grace.

Read more in The Day of Atonement Fulfilled – Part 2
Explore more Holy Week reflections.

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This was highly ineffective. The priest was sinful, the animal blood was not sufficient, and the sacrifices were unable to clear the conscience of the Israelites. When Jesus came everything changed. He willingly offered His perfect blood as an eternal sacrifice. Hebrews 9:14 beautifully states, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God”! Jesus offered a remedy for sin which cleansed the conscience, offered forgiveness, and never needed repetition. He accomplished what the works of the Levitical priests never could.

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He was placed on the cross between 2 thieves. The cross would have been no more than 2 or 3 feet off the ground. He would have been nailed in such a way as to suspend His body by the arms resulting in slow suffocation. He was probably tied to the cross first so that they could place the nails in His hands. The nails were 7-9 inches long & made of iron. They would have first been driven through wooden disks to avoid the heads going through his flesh. A 3rd nail was driven through both feet & hammered inside the Achilles’ tendons. A sign was placed above his head that read “This is Jesus of Nazareth – King of the Jews”. Written by Pilate, it was in 3 languages, Hebrew, Greek, & Latin. Jesus suffered on the cross for 6 hours. He uttered 7 statements, His final one being, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit”. He then took his last breath. At that moment darkness came over the land. The temple veil was torn in 2. The earth shook & the rocks were split. Tombs were opened & the bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised. Jesus’ physical suffering was over, the Lamb was sacrificed, the law was fulfilled, the sins of the world were paid for, & the plan of salvation was complete.

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Both the Jews and the Romans were very strict about their rules but over the next few hours they would break 43 specific laws.

Jesus faced 3 Jewish trials and 3 Roman trials.

The first was before Annas. Annas was the Father-in-law to Caiaphas the High Priest. He was the leader of a family that had held the office of High Priest for many years and was the leader of the Sanhedrin. He was a wicked man. Jesus was questioned about his teachings and, when Annas didn’t like his answer, he slapped him, bound him, and sent him to Caiaphas.

Caiaphas accused Jesus of blasphemy and condemned him to death. The officials spit in his face, blindfolded him, mocked him, and struck him with their fists.

Jesus was then taken for an official trial before the Sanhedrin, who were a council of 71 elders. They were much like our Supreme Court. It was here Jesus was formally convicted. The death penalty was not allowed for the Sanhedrin under Roman law, and they wanted him dead, so they took Jesus to the palace of Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor.

The Jews refused to go into the palace because it belonged to a Gentile, and they didn’t want to be considered unclean. Apparently, they had no issues with murdering, lying, or blatantly breaking Jewish laws with their trials.

The Jews demanded Jesus be tried for blasphemy, though they were willing to change that charge to whatever was necessary to get him condemned to death. Ultimately Jesus would be convicted for treason.

Pilate tried to release Jesus. He told the Jews he found no fault in Him. When he discovered Jesus was Galilean, he turned him over to Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee.

Herod was excited to see Jesus. He’d heard a lot about Him and hoped He’d perform some signs and miracles for his entertainment. He asked Jesus a lot of questions, but Jesus refused to answer. Herod ridiculed and mocked him but not finding any fault with him sent him back to Pilate.

Pilate again tried to convince the Jews to let Jesus go. He reminded them that no one could find anything to convict him of.

It was customary to release 1 Jewish prisoner during the Passover, so Pilate gave them a chance to release Jesus. They refused and demanded Barabbas, a robber and murderer, be set free instead.

The bloodthirsty leaders kept demanding Jesus be put to death.

Pilate tried a 3rd & final time to convince them to let Jesus go.

He had Jesus scourged in an attempt to appease them.

They still were not happy.

He realized his attempts were useless. He was afraid of a riot, so he washed his hands of the situation saying that he claimed innocence in the death of Jesus. So, Jesus is condemned despite never being legally convicted and never formally sentenced.

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Maundy comes from a Latin word that means “command” so it was named because of the command Jesus gave his disciples to love one another as I have loved you.

Today is another busy day.

• Jesus celebrated the Last Supper, washing His disciples’ feet.
• He entered the Garden of Gethsemane, which was actually an orchard filled with Olive Trees.
• Jesus prayed three times and was so fervent that sweat droplets of blood fell from His face, all while His disciples slept.

Judas came to the Garden with 600 Roman soldiers and the Temple Police to have Jesus arrested and Peter cut off one of their ears.

We aren’t exactly sure at what point Thursday ends and Friday begins, so there may have been even more that happened before the official end of the day, but we’ll talk about that tomorrow.

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Some mark Wednesday as the day Satan entered Judas and Judas agreed to betray Jesus for a small amount of silver.  Some put this event on Tuesday.  Scripture is not completely clear.  

So why do we call it Silent Wednesday?  

It is because Scripture doesn’t tell us what Jesus did on this day.  It is silent about His actions.

Most theologians and scholars believe He was spending the day alone in prayer, communing with His Father as He prepared for what was about to happen.  Whether this is true or not, we do know that Jesus had faith that whatever He needed, His Father would provide

Many times in Scripture we are shown where Jesus goes off on His own to pray.

He sets the perfect example for us on how we should react when we are faced with something frightening or we’re afraid we won’t have the strength to endure.

If you have something going on this week that is overwhelming or causing you to fear, I encourage you to have your own Silent Wednesday.  

Spend some time alone in prayer communing with your Father.

He wants to give you peace – a peace that surpasses all understanding.

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My favorite part of this day, though, is when He tells His disciples, “if anyone says to this mountain Go, throw yourself into the sea and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

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In fact, it was the only area Gentiles were allowed to come and pray. Jesus knew the hearts of the merchants and saw them as thieves. This was actually the 2nd time Jesus cleansed the temple as He did so at the beginning of his ministry as well.

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Fun Fact…25% of Luke’s gospel, 33% of Matthew’s, 40% of Mark’s, and 50% of John’s are all about these last 7 days of Jesus’ life. Isn’t that incredible?!

Today is Palm Sunday.

In Matthew 21 and Mark 11, there is a story about how Jesus sent 2 disciples to fetch him a colt. He tells them exactly where it will be and what to say when they are questioned. The disciples went into the village, and it happened exactly as Jesus had said. They brought Him the colt and Jesus rode it into Jerusalem. Jesus knew the religious leaders were going to arrest and condemn Him, but He boldly and willingly went. I love that! As He rode into town a large crowd started to follow him. They laid their cloaks on the road as an act of recognition, loyalty, and support while shouting “Hosanna the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Hosanna means “to save” and was addressed to kings. By shouting this they were acknowledging that Jesus was the Messiah. People were waving palm branches, which were symbols of victory and success, a token of rejoicing. I can just imagine the joy and excitement!

This event is called the triumphal entry. It was prophesied about in Zechariah 9:9 almost 600 years earlier and was fulfilled on the exact day of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9.

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