Week 11: Part Three, Chapter 10 — "Holy Week: Countdown to Death"

1.Yancey notes that the Gospels devote a disproportionate amount of space to Holy Week — roughly one third of the total text. What does this editorial choice tell us about what the Gospel writers believed was most important about Jesus? What does it tell us about where Christian faith is ultimately anchored?

2.Yancey describes the events of Holy Week as a collision of competing agendas: the Pharisees' religious anxiety, the Sadducees' political calculation, Pilate's self-preservation, Judas's disillusionment, the disciples' confusion. How does seeing these human motivations at work make the events of Holy Week feel more historically real to you — rather than a pre-scripted religious pageant?

3.The Last Supper includes the stunning moment when Jesus wraps a towel around his waist and washes his disciples' feet — including, John notes, the feet of Judas. What does it mean that Jesus served the man who was already planning to betray him? What does that act say about the nature of the love he was about to demonstrate on the cross?