Holy Monday

A House of Prayer

In the Lutheran tradition, Holy Monday is the second day of Holy Week, following Palm Sunday. While this day is often overshadowed by the rest of the week’s activities, it is still a notable day within the trajectory of Jesus’ trek to the cross.

Unlike most of the rest of the year, the liturgy of the Church during Holy Week slows down significantly, replaying the events of Christ’s week before his death in real time. Thus, Holy Monday provides Christians today with a look at the events sandwiched between Christ’s great entry into Jerusalem and his last day of public teaching, commemorated on Holy Tuesday.

Scripture tells us about a few of the things that happened on that Monday, and an account is recorded in all four Gospels. Matthew 21:18-20 depicts Jesus, on the morning after his entry into Jerusalem, cursing a fig tree because it failed to bear fruit. This story is significant as the fruitless fig tree is often compared to Israel and her failure to receive Christ.

Jesus then went to the Temple, where he found the courts full of corrupt money changers and overturned their tables, saying “‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves” (Luke 19:46). This event, known as the Cleansing of the Temple, demonstrates Christ’s concern with the purity of God’s house and his designation of it as a place of prayer to God. What an apropos message for Christians to remember at the beginning of Holy Week as they remember that their body and mind are a place of residence for the Holy Spirit!

After these events, on Monday evening, Jesus stayed in Bethany, perhaps even in the home of his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, friends who also make a reappearance later in the week. While this day is easily pushed aside in our modern Holy Week observance, it was certainly a busy one for Christ, filled with events that set the stage for the rest of his journey.

A Brief History

As we’ve written about before, the origins of Holy Week stemmed from Christians tracing Christ’s footsteps during the last week before his death. This custom, which began in the third or fourth century, started on Palm Sunday and extended through the rest of the week leading up until Easter. Holy Monday was the second day of the journey and commemorated in a similar way, with Christians first going to the site of the Temple in Jerusalem before then ending in Bethany.

While not all Christians were able to make that same pilgrimage, there were a few ways that the Church continued to provide an opportunity for Christians to prepare themselves for the rest of the Holy Week journey. Since this same time period, daily mass was offered during Holy Week as another way for Christians to gather in Christ’s presence.

While many Christians today are not in the habit of attending daily Holy Week mass, a Holy Monday service is still customary in many places and worth mentioning as an important Christian tradition worth reviving and observing as part of the beginning of the week. At the very least, it helps this day stand out as a meaningful and worthwhile observance in the midst of the busiest week of the entire year for all of Christendom.

Collect

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God: that we, who amid so many adversities do fail through our own infirmities; may be restored through the Passion and intercession of Thine only-begotten Son; who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost: ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Lessons

Resources

References:
1. Bryan Wolfmueller, “Devotional Tools for Holy Week,” The Lutheran Witness, April 10, 2022, https://witness.lcms.org/2022/devotional-tools-for-holy-week/

Images:
1. Christ Driving Money Changers from the Temple, Rembrandt van Rijn, The Netherlands, 1635.
2. Driving of the Merchants from the Temple, Scarsellino, Italy, ca. 1580-1585.
3. The Expulsion of the Moneychangers from the Temple, Stjepan Crnota, Italy, 1535.