Holy Week is the most sacred time in Christianity. Palm Sunday to the victory of Easter seven days later, is what defines the faith. There is no Christian religion without the resurrection of Jesus. And there is no resurrection without His crucifixion, and no crucifixion without understanding why, just a few days before his arrest, Jesus was hailed as a hero when he entered Jerusalem with throngs waving palms and shouting hosannahs. Biblical scholar Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, says what Jesus did just a few miles from Jerusalem is key to understanding Palm Sunday and the entirety of the week. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, it thrust into high gear, the political forces that would have him Jesus executed. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Constantinou, who is an expert on ancient Jewish and Roman law, shares her insights from her book, “The Crucifixion of the King of Glory.” She says, “It says in the Scriptures, John tells us that it’s because of the raising of Lazarus that Jesus received this kind of welcome as he entered into Jerusalem. And when he gets hailed… as the Messiah, which had a lot of political overtones in those days, this is when the Jewish leaders said, ‘You see the whole world is going after him. We have to do something about it. We have to stop him.'” Constantinou is Greek Orthodox, what she says is the oldest continuous Christian church. Catholics make that claim too, but Catholicism has changed quite a bit over the centuries. The Orthodox, even in America, still hear New Testament Scripture chanted in Greek, its original language. That tie to the first century culture makes Constantinou’s take on Holy Week unique. She has six degrees including one in law. Her scholarly insights are scarcely found anywhere else.
