Easter and Holy Week paintings and poems
- Emma Major
- Mar 29
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
I have painted Christmas scenes many many times over the years, but painting scenes from Holy Week and Easter have scared me; feeling beyond my skill level. I can confirm that I'm still not sure I have any where near the skill level required to do justice to this central story of my faith, but I gave it a go last year and this year I have taken it further. So without further ado, here are some paintings and accompanying poems about Jesus' last week up to his death and resurrection.
Palm Sunday - Jesus enters Jerusalem
As we move from the period of Lent into Holy Week, we start to prepare for the great sadness of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter Day. We take this journey every year, the same yet different depending on our own situations and those of the world around us. Yet the one constant is that we will journey with Jesus, accompanied by the song of the people "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.".
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
God of light
Be with us in the dark times
When we struggle to see the way
Help us to feel your comfort ever with us
To know our worth in the world
To hear your voice leading us each day
To praise you as we emerge hopefully into safety
Remind us to celebrate your love that knows no end
And to transform that celebration into action for those less blessed than ourselves
Blessed is Jesus who comes in the name of the Lord
Amen
Jesus is given a Crown of Thorns
God your love endures
Bringing comfort in my fear
I give praise in thanks
Jesus carries his cross
Can you imagine the weight of that cross
The physical weight
Bearing down on his shoulders
Pressure all through his spine
As he carries that cross
Through streets lined with people
Who just last week welcomed him
And now they jeer and laugh
He must have had enough
Emotionally
Knowing that this was a walk of pain
To pain
To the end
Yet he also knew that this was not the end
But what consolation was that
As the pain rang through his human body?
I can not imagine
Can not bare to witness
Yet that is the very least I can do
This holy week
Every holy week
To remember that he bore the pain
As we bare pain
Again and again
Jesus meets his mother Mary
She had been told
She had been warned
But I doubt she every really expected it to be as bad as this
She had born him
She loved him
And I doubt she had any idea how she would deal with this loss
But she witnessed
And she prayed
Then she gave him all her love as she laid him to rest
A mother's love
From the very start
To the very end
Jesus dies on the cross
It is finished.
A shock again
As every year
Yet somehow... More
There's been so much loss this year
So much death
Too much death
And grief
Grief
Of so many sorts
And I've carried it
You've carried it
We've all carried it
Waiting to share it
Waiting for it to be lifted
Waiting
It's hard to process grief alone
So we hold it
We've held it
For all these months
Until today
When we've been invited
To place it
At the foot of the cross
Placed it with tears
For Jesus
For every death
Every loss
All the grief
At the foot of the cross
Now we wait in the dark
We all wait
We can't rush it
We mustn't rush it
All we can do is wait
We wait together
We are alone yet together
With thousands of others
Grieving
Crying
Waiting
We know that it will take time
Time to process
Time to heal
Days
Weeks
Months
Years of time
But we won't be alone
We're never alone
So we wait
And as we wait we remember
That Mary didn't have to wait forever
We sit with Mary
Pray with Mary
Grieve with Mary
Wait with Mary
Waiting
Holy Saturday
Jesus' body is laid in the tomb
Soldiers guard him, keep him safe
His family and the disciples grieve
They are confused and bewildered and scared
We know now that this is the last day of Jesus death
That tomorrow we move from Lent to Easter
That death could not hold him
But today we rest and pray and wait
Jesus is Risen; the tomb is empty
Listening to bird song
Imagining Gethsemane
My mind on Mary
At the empty tomb
Surrounded by early light
Approached by Jesus
She doesn't see him
Can't imagine it would be
Then he speaks her name
Her heart must stop dead
Before racing out her chest
Jesus, is it you?
"It is me Mary
I am Risen spread the word
You have seen the Lord"
Two thousand years
The good news is still spreading
Death could not hold him
Jesus is Risen
Alleluia praise the Lord
Happy Easter Day
If you would like to buy these paintings (or any of my paintings shared online @emmuk74) as a limited edition print or buy the original paintings on canvas then please drop me an email.
And finally....
Poetry, colouring, reflections and more
You might like to see some of my other resources created for Easter, the links are included with these below.
A meditation for Good Friday afternoon I recorded in the pandemic.
John 19:28-30 http://youtu.be/tm4NIhPOFpA
Some of my Easter Poems
Easter Colouring Booklet
If you would like to buy these paintings (or any of my paintings shared online @emmuk74) as a limited edition print or buy the original paintings on canvas then please drop me an email
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