This year, I have tweeted a series of “interruptions” by popular culture into Holy Week. You can read them all in one place here.
All of the lyrics quoted are taken from songs on this Spotify playlist: https://spotify.link/jQAFf5RNQyb
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem
“You can be the greatest, you can be the best,
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest.”
– will.i.am
Art by James Tissot
“I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises.”
– Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel
Judas agrees to betray Jesus
Art by János Pentelei Molnár
“Love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night.”
– David Bowie
The Last Supper / Jesus shares bread with Judas
Artist unknown. “The Dipping Dish”
“Kiss me, beneath the milky twilight.
Lead me, out on the moonlit floor.”
– Sixpence None the Richer
Judas betrays Jesus
Art by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
“Life is a mystery
Everyone must stand alone”
– Madonna
Jesus is condemned to death
Art by Mateo Cerezo the Younger
“We’re heading for Venus, but still we stand tall”
– Europe
Jesus takes up his Cross
Art by El Greco
“My knees were far too weak
To stand in your arms
Without falling to your feet”
– Adele
Jesus falls for the first time
Art by Giambatistta Tiepolo
“Now she got a a six year old
Trying to keep him warm
Trying to keep out the cold
When he looks her in the eyes
He don’t know he’ is safe when she says
‘Ooh love
No one’s ever gonna hurt you, love'”
– Anne Marie
Jesus meets his Mother
Art by Daud Akhriev
“Could you take my place and stand here?
I do not think you’d take this pain
You’ll be on your knees and struggle under the weight”
– London Grammar
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross
Art by Titian
“Larger than lifesize; we become
Great in the eyes of someone.”
– A Fine Frenzy
Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Art by Francisco Salzillo
“For each and every gathering
a scapegoat falls to climb.
As I step forward,
silently, deliberately mine.”
– REM
Jesus falls for the final time
Art by Lynda Swenk
“Wise enough to carry the scars without any blame”
– Crowded House
Jesus is stripped of his garments
Art by Roberto Ferri
“I’ve been raising up my hands, drive another nail in”
– Tori Amos
Jesus is nailed to the Cross
Art by Christopher Slatoff
“Great clouds roll over the hill bringing darkness from above”
– Bastille
Darkness covers the land
“Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight
In the hanging tree.”
– Katniss Everdeen
Jesus dies on the cross
Art by Theyre Lee-Elliott
“A song for your heart, but when it is quiet
I know what it means, and I’ll carry you home.”
– James Blunt
The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross
Art by Jen Norton
“Our names there together
Must have fallen like a seed
To the depths of the soil
Buried deep in the ground
On the wind I could hear you
Call my name, held the sounds
I am lost.”
– The Irrepressibles
The body of Jesus is laid in the tomb
Photograph from Santa Barbara Mission, CA
“Your blood’s as good an ink as any.
So go scratch your name into the clouds,
And bring them all down.”
– Radical Face
The Harrowing of Hell
Art by Fra Angelico
“Certain as the sun rising in the east:
Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme.”
– Mrs Potts
The empty tomb
Art by Graham Braddock
Originally tweeted by Paul Brownnutt (@gods_toddler) on April 2, 2023.
Being God's Toddler 