Guestling Bradshaw CE Primary School

Jesus rode down from the Mount of Olives into the city on a donkey. This was a deliberate choice; donkeys were ridden by royalty in times of peace, whereas horses were associated with war, and thus it could be seen as a protest against the Roman rule of violence. It was also a symbolic act to fulfil an Old Testament prophesy by the prophet Zechariah.

Palm branches were a traditional way of welcoming heroes and returning armies, rather like a red carpet is used today for important people.

Read a story from another point of view on our Palm Sunday page.

Jesus and his disciples were staying with their friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who had a house in Bethany – a village about 2 miles outside Jerusalem.

Jesus went to visit the temple in Jerusalem. The temple courtyards had been turned into a marketplace, with people buying and selling, changing money, and haggling over the price of cattle. In a fury, Jesus threw over the tables of the money-changers and drove out the traders with their oxen and sheep. "The house of God is a house of prayer," he thundered, "but you have turned it into a den of thieves!"

Jesus returned to Jerusalem with his disciples and to begin to teaching in the temple. The chief priests and teachers of the law were waiting for him. They asked Jesus who had given him permission to teach there, but he replied with a question that they could not answer. They began looking for an excuse to arrest him, but did not dare move against him in front of the crowd for fear of a riot.

At the house in Bethany, Mary came to Jesus with a jar of precious ointment. Breaking the jar, she gently rubbed his feet with it, wiping them clean with her hair, so that the house was filled with its sweet perfume. Judas Iscariot was shocked that Mary had used something so expensive - equivalent to about a year's wage to a labourer - but Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She has done a beautiful thing for me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. By anointing me with this perfume, she is preparing me for the day of my burial. What she has done will always be remembered."

Meanwhile the priests, scribes and elders, who were members of the Jewish council, met at the house of Caiaphas, the high priest to discuss what they could do about Jesus. Their problem was solved when Judas went to them in secret and offered to betray him for thirty pieces of silver. From then on, Judas never left Jesus' side, looking for an opportunity to hand him over to the Jewish council. For this reason the day is sometimes known as Spy Wednesday.

Shortly after 3am Jesus was brought before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. Determined to find him guilty, they had bribed witnesses to lie about Jesus, but nobody could produce convincing evidence against him. Eventually, two men came forward who had heard Jesus say he could destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.

“What do you say to this?” demanded Caiaphas. Jesus remained silent. Caiaphas spoke again. “Are you the Son of God?”

“I am,” Jesus quietly replied.

“Then we need no more evidence!” Caiaphas shouted in triumph. “No man can be the Son of God, and the punishment for blasphemy is death!” At this, the members of the council crowded round Jesus, jeering and spitting in his face. Bound and blindfolded, he was taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea.

Saturday was the Sabbath, a day set aside for rest and made holy by God. Observation and remembrance of the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. Jesus’ followers probably spent the day in quiet mourning. Holy Saturday marks the end of Lent.

Very early in the morning, when it was still dark, Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb. To her astonishment, the great stone covering the entrance had been rolled away. Jesus’ body had gone. She ran to find Peter and John. “They have taken the Lord from the tomb,” she told them.

The two men hurried to the tomb. When they looked inside, they saw the burial cloth lying on the ground. Wondering what had happened, they returned home. Mary stayed by the tomb, weeping. She looked up to see two angels sitting where the body of Jesus had been. “Why are you weeping?” they asked.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she answered. As she spoke, she turned around and saw a man standing beside her. It was Jesus, although Mary did not recognise him. “Why are you weeping?” he asked. Thinking he was the gardener, she asked him if he knew where the body had been taken. “Mary, it is I!”

“My Lord!” she cried, her face full of joy.

“Go now,” he told her. “Tell my friends that you have seen me and that soon I will be with my Father in heaven.” Mary ran back to tell the disciples the good news that Jesus was alive.