DayeTime: ‘8 Days in Jerusalem’ series on Avoyelles Today .......

Beginning Palm Sunday and running through Easter Sunday visitors to Avoyelles Today will be able to read a daily “newspaper” account of Christ’s last week of earthly life.

I wrote a version of this series about 25 years ago entitled “7 Days in Jerusalem” that was printed in another newspaper. I reworked it a few years later and added photographs of paintings by master artists of the 1800s, wrote another article to have a Sunday-to-Sunday series, and renamed it “8 Days in Jerusalem.”

That version was only given to a few people in book form. I also made a booklet without the art that I handed out to friends and co-workers from time to time.

I recently found a copy of those articles in my closet and decided to dust them off and produce a slightly revised version for this website. It is a revised “8 Days in Jerusalem” series, but the website format does not readily allow the series title to be included -- unless I knock out the second headline, which helps people understand what they are about to read.

The masterpieces are included in the online articles, with the artist’s name listed in the same way we note the photographer in our newspaper -- but with the added info on the artist’s birth and death dates.

Those reading the series will note that the day’s accounts may include things that happened late at night that day. For purposes of this series, I strayed from realism so that I could put each day’s major events in that day’s article.

For the most part, the articles follow accounts in the four Gospels. Since there are some slight variations in those accounts, the “reporter” had to pick one to get the main point of the story across to his readers.

There are a few historical references and even a foreshadowing of Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 A.D. to put the events of that week into historical perspective.

Nothing was fabricated, except some literary license to quote unnamed sources close to Pilate or Caiphas. But even those are comments supported by Biblical and historical sources.

Readers will note the articles do not use the term Christ as a part of Jesus’ name. Instead, the article uses terms a reporter would have used had one covered Holy Week almost 2,000 years ago.

Those names include Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene, since the use of one’s hometown was used in describing someone. Jesus bar-Joseph is also used, which means Jesus the son of Joseph. This is because Joseph was identified as Jesus’ earthly father, and that was also a way to differentiate among people with the same name. Jesus the carpenter is used, because one’s occupation is another source of what later became surnames.

Time references are based in the 1st Century , such as references to Passover and the Exodus, which is believed to have occurred about 1,300 years before Christ’s crucifixion.

This series is not intended to stir strife or provoke debate. It is not an attempt to challenge your beliefs or even your unbelief.

It is merely our way of presenting the Easter Week story in a familiar format that is easy for most people to read and understand.

It can be read simply for entertainment or it can be a prompt for the reader to undertake their own study of the Scriptures to see what insights they may reveal that this series missed.
As with a newspaper’s coverage of any event, not everything that happened or was said can be included. Although a newspaper strives to be fair in its coverage, it can seldom really present ALL sides of an issue.

Also, while I have tried to proofread the article to catch any typos, it is always possible that a few slipped by me. If they did, it only adds to the “realism” of the series.

I hope you enjoy the series. If you think it might cause you distress or anger, then skip it. It’s easy to spot. It has a painting instead of a photo and is just about the only item on the website that is not about Avoyelles Parish.

Have a happy Easter.