Good Friday

Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Black Friday and Great Friday is the Friday before Easter according to the Christian religion. On this day Jesus’ death is commemorated.
The definition of the exact date is not a very simple task according to the evangelic and other ancient sources. Many thought that Jesus died on a Friday evening in April when the South Cross could be seen on the bottom of the sky at South to Jerusalem. But this is not possible because of the precession. One possible date is 3rd of April in 33 AD. On this particular day there also was a partial lunar eclipse. The seeming differences between the synoptic gospels and the narrative of John’s gospel make problematic to count the exact date. According to the first the Last Supper squarely meant the eating of the Easter Lamb (to the remembrance of Moses) what the Jews celebrated on the 14th day of the first month of the year on a Thursday evening. This was the 15th of the Jews’ Nissan month. As the Jew days go on from one sunset to another Jesus’ crucifixion happened still on 15th of Nissan but on Friday. However John writes that Joseph from Arimathea put Jesus’ body in the new grave (with the permission of Pilate) before the preparations for the holiday which means that Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples before the evening of the Jew Passover. To solve this contradiction a lot of attempts were made. Most likely is (according to John 13: 1) that Jesus knew that his last minutes were coming so he had the Lust Supper on Tuesday or Wednesday. Like this they could have more time for the happenings before the crucifixion.
It is important that the gospels agree in the fact that the crucifixion happened under the reign of Pilate between 26 and 36 BC. In this period of time the 14th of Nissan (according to John) was a Friday only in 27, 30, 33 and 36 BC. Other arguments strengthen these arguments. The Gospel of Luke mentions that Jesus began his activity in his 30s and John the Baptism began his open activity in the 15th year of the Emperor Tiberius. If we take the year of 6 BC the natal year of Jesus then this puts the beginning of his activity to 26 BC and the beginning of John’s the Baptism to 29 AD. As the Gospel of John mentions three different Easter during Jesus active life and as Tiberius became the emperor in 14 AD this is too late for Jesus. Because of these we have to put the crucifixion to 33 AD. This is supported by the argument that in 32 AD Tiberius abolished Seianus’ decrees referring to the Jew’s oppression after Seianus death. (This could be an explanation also to that why Pilate listened to the Jews and sentenced Jesus to death against his own will.) But if we accept that many think that Tiberius began his ruling with what power he had before Augustus death (11 AD) then we can put the beginning of John the Baptism’s activity to 26 AD which puts the most probably date of Jesus’ death to 7th of April in 30 AD. It is almost impossible to determine the earlier dates and the days of the weeks because the Jews calculated their dates according to the movements of the Sun and the Moon and the calendar used today was made only in the 5th century AD.

In Kobátfalva we have the service on Good Friday at 6 PM.

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday (also known as Maundy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Commandment Thursday, Great & Holy Thursday, Thursday of Mysteries, and The Last Supper) is the day of the Last Supper when Jesus says farewell to his disciples according to the Christian tradition. It is possible that Jesus had the Passover Seder feast in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.
Seder means order, arrangement. On this evening which is the beginning of the Holiday in Israel (the next evening is as well outside Israel) during a family or community dinner the events of the Exodus from Egypt are told in a certain order with prays, thanksgivings, songs and historical memories. The events of the history are explained, thanksgiving is giving to the Savor God and the ceremony ends with singing confession (“in Jerusalem in the next year”). This confession expresses the Messianic hope. The ornamented cup on the Seder table is waiting for the coming of Elijah, the forerunner of the Messiah. The holy ceremony of this evening was the eating of one part of the lamb sacrifice made on the Passover Holiday when the Temple of Jerusalem was still standing.
Jesus’ Last Supper was this Seder ceremony according to many religious historic believes.

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Palm Sunday...

21 Matthew 1: 11

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”

Palm Sunday is the holiday of Jesus’ last trip to Jerusalem. Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter. In the Christianity Palm Sunday means the beginning of the Holy Week. In the liturgy of the western Christian Churches Palm Sunday is always one Sunday between 15 of March and 18 of April.

Why Jesus went to Jerusalem?

The Jew always remembered in this occasion about their escape from Egypt and they had lamb sacrifices. This was their Passover Holiday. Jesus possibly went to Jerusalem a few days before Passover. Nobody can now the exact date when. So Palm Sunday, based on agreement, became the day of Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem.

By this time Jesus was well known. The crowd of pilgrims went to the walls of Jerusalem thinking that the Messianic Era had begun which would free them from the Roman oppression. The crowd greets that one who comes on the back of a donkey and sees him as the fulfiller of the prophecies (Zachariah).
Jesus’ appearance on the Palm Sunday was especially important in the light of the fact that the Jews went continuously through national tragedies because Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman conquerors during the past eight century. Only the Maccabees Era was an exception under this when in 167 BC the Maccabees army drove out the oppressors for a short period of time even from the Church of Jerusalem as well.
In the era of Jesus the desire of the rise of the nation strengthened the waiting of the Messiah what reached its culmination in the happenings of Palm Sunday. According to this prosperity, happiness and national glory was waited from the Messiah.

The crowd was enthusiastic about the person said by them to be the Son of God. But Jesus didn’t satisfied the expectations because he didn’t become a king, didn’t crowned himself and he didn’t foment sedition against the Romans.

The description of the crowd’s marching is not detailed in the Bible. In it only appear the enthusiastic being together and the experience of the common being. It is possible that the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem counted on that that Jesus would appear as the Messiah and the Saver in the Passover.

After the triumphal entry named later the Palm Sunday the leaders of the Jews didn’t take the open act against Jesus. But a few days later they do this secretly and they capture him and sentence him. (Good- Friday, Easter)