The week had started with the teacher riding into the city on a young donkey. The city was crowded. Many had come to observe the Passover celebration in that great city. The crowds had greeted him enthusiastically as they spread their coats and palm branches along the way.

It had been a very busy week for the teacher and for those that had accompanied him. Thursday was a day of preparation for the celebration. And everything was in place as the sun set and Thursday came to an end. At sunset Friday began. (By our modern reckoning, it would still be Thursday for another 6 hours.)

And what a Friday it was! It began that evening as the teacher gathered his followers and they went in to celebrate Passover with the Seder meal. This year was different, and the teacher said things that they found difficult to understand and even more difficult to accept. Would he really be leaving them?

After the meal, they sang a song and went out. The teacher led them to a place where he asked them to wait while he went on and prayed. The meal and the hour left them feeling drowsy and they napped. He woke them, but they napped again. Finally, it was time to go. Now the tired followers could get some rest.

But wait, here comes their treasurer. There are temple guards with him. He greets the teacher and the guards arrest the teacher. What followed was the stuff that nightmares are made of. The followers grew fearful, only the bold one followed to see what would happen. And the bold one warmed himself by a fire, and when confronted, he denied knowing the teacher. It was just as the teacher said it would be. The bold one ran weeping for his cowardice.

The teacher, now alone, was tortured, questioned, tried and convicted. His sentence? Death.

That Friday afternoon, the teacher hung upon a wooden cross. Only one of his male followers — the youngest of them — was there with the teacher’s mother and some other women to witness his suffering and death.

The day would end at sunset, and the next day was the Sabbath. A wealthy man of influence who had become a follower went with his previously timid friend and received permission to receive the teacher’s body and to give it a proper burial. This they did as the women watched.

The Sabbath would begin at sundown and so they quickly performed their duty as the time approached. The governor sent soldiers to seal the tomb and to stand guard over it. The religious leaders had warned him that the teacher’s followers might try to steal the body.

Then, the sun set. Friday was over. Sabbath rest had begun. The teacher’s body rested in the rich man’s tomb.