Your Sorrow Will Turn To Joy: Morning & Evening Meditations for Holy Week

by John Piper

Holy Week is not an obligation. It is an opportunity.

In the chaos of our increasingly fast-paced and hectic society, the annual coming of Holy Week each spring is a reminder to pause and ponder, to carefully mark each day, and not let this greatest of all weeks fly like every other.

It is a chance to walk with the church throughout the world and throughout time as she accompanies her Bridegroom through the eight most important days in history. And it is an opportunity to focus our minds on, and seek to intensify our affections for, the highest and most timeless realities in the universe.

We have assembled a team of eleven pastors and scholars to walk us through Holy Week as we walk together with our Lord. This collection of short meditations includes readings for each morning and evening from Palm Sunday to the triumph of Easter.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Devotional, Christianity

122 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem.

John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Anete Ābola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am glad I finished this until Easter.
This is a good short devotional for mornings and evenings of the Holy Week.

[Mark Schleier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic study to accompany Holy Week and the days leading up to Easter. The meditations and reflections in here were absolute gold and I'll be reading this again in future years.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great scriptural meditations on Jesus’ path to the cross and the rich and joyous implications of the resurrection. Loved that I could sandwich my day with morning and evening readings!

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

PREFACE In one sense, there’s nothing special about “Holy Week.” Just another sequence of eight days each spring—nothing is intrinsically holy about this Sunday to Sunday that moves around the calendar each year. We have no mandate from Jesus or his apostles to mark these days for particular observance. Marking Holy Week is not an obligation, but it is an opportunity. It is a chance to walk with the church, throughout time and through the world, as she walks with her Bridegroom through the most important week in the history of the world. It is a chance to focus our minds on, and seek to intensify our affections for, the most important and timeless realities.

Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy is a devotional book. There are morning devotions and evening devotions for each of the days of Holy Week. The book isn't written solely by John Piper. It includes devotions written by a handful of authors and theologians.

Authors include John Piper, Jonathan Parnell, Andreas Köstenberger, Justin Taylor, Marshall Segal, David Mathis, Johnathan Bowers, Jon Bloom, Donald Macleod, Joe Rigney, and Tony Reinke.

I don't typically use devotionals. But I did enjoy this one. Perhaps I find it easier to commit to reading a devotional a day for a one week span than an entire year!

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful read as we went through this Holy Week!! Highly recommended!

[Eliceli Bonan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um bom devocional para a Semana Santa e a Páscoa. O livro é organizado pelo ministério de John Piper, Desiring God. É um conjunto de textos de autores diversos, tais como Jonathan Parnell, David Mathis, Tony Reinke, Joe Rigney, o próprio John Piper, dentre outros. As meditações começam no Domingo de Ramos e há uma mensagem para a manhã, outra para a tarde, ao longo de toda a semana, encerrando com a manhã da ressurreição, ou seja, o domingo da Páscoa. Como característico do Desiring God, o foco é a alegria da cruz, Cristo suportando os sofrimentos da morte por causa da alegria que lhe estava preparada. "A ousada alegria da ressurreição de Jesus é agora oferecida a você e a mim [...] Uma alegria que preenche e de modo nenhum pode ser tirada de você [...]". É uma alegria pessoal, não só esperança para o futuro, mas esperança para o agora.

[Erica Trobaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never experienced Holy Week in quite the same way as I have while reading this book. The morning and evening devotionals not only flow seamlessly from one day to the next, they also bring the events to life for the reader. Each writer sets the scene and makes you feel like you're really there experiencing the last week of Jesus' life along with his disciples and the people of the time. It really brings home the power and meaning of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, and by the time you get to Easter morning you're thinking about it more deeply than perhaps ever before. I appreciated the constant Scriptural references, and I'd like to read it again while following along in the gospels. If you need a new perspective on Easter, I'd recommend this ebook!

[Jenny Hartfelder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated this collection of essays focused on the Holy Week. The last chapter, concerning the joy of the resurrection, was truly encouraging.

One of my main reasons for dropping a star is that while there were many Scripture references interspersed throughout, I would have preferred to have the full text of Scripture included. 🤷‍♀️ I understand that sometimes that breaks up the flow of things ... But it breaks up the flow *much* more to go back and forth looking up each verse. #personalpreference

[Lisa Wenzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Easter Preparation!

I’m giving five stars for eloquence. For me, the better something is written, the more it means; the more it touches my mind and heart, the better it is.

The length if each portion, Day/night sections was also perfect.

I also liked the fact that, though written by several different people, the separate sections overlapped each other just perfectly.

Very well done.

[Elijah Abanto · Rating 5 out of 5]

What beautiful book! Because of this book, the Lord has shown me new facets of the significance of Jesus's death, burial and his glorious resurrection. Because of his suffering, a door is opened, not only for our salvation, but also for our joy. What joy the gospel has opened to us! Thank you Father! Thank you Jesus!

[Tori Samar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Holy Week 2020. A good collection of morning and evening devotional readings to focus the heart and mind on the events of each day in the life of Christ that week. I was especially encouraged by the running theme of sorrow turning to joy, as it’s a fitting consideration for the season of life in which I found myself this year.

[Rebecca Preston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that brings you through morning and evening of every day during Holy Week. Amazing read!!

[Sam Rainer · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Piper and his Desiring God staff always bring the joy of God into the forefront.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has helped me in my meditations of Easter. I enjoyed every bit of my time in this book

[⨳Ræchəl⨳ ✿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belas mensagens para ser lidas (ou ouvidas) durante Semana Santa.

[Emma Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Excellent Holy Week devotional with convicting and encouraging devotions for the mornings and evenings.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed hearing from 2 different people about the events that took place each day of Holy Week. This was a perfect Lent read.

[Lisa Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Easter devotional takes you day by day through Holy Week, with a morning and evening devotion.

[Bhavika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read this for a couple of years - nice companion for Holy Week with morning and evening meditations. Was neat to pair it with an Anglican Lenten devotional this year.

[Mark Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as my devotional for Holy Week 2025. Really good, particularly useful for giving an outline for family Bible time that week.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent short book (122 pages) covers the eight days of Holy Week beginning Palm Sunday through to an including Easter Sunday. There are two devotionals for each day, one for the morning and one for the evening. No author writes both day's devotionals.

This is a wonderful resource as the authors take apart each of the four gospels and combine them to provide a clear account of what Jesus is doing on each of the days. And not only Jesus, but those who accompany Him and His enemies. I so appreciated this essential story-telling aspect of the book. It shone new light on particular aspects of these eight days, so for example, Joe Rigney gave a tremendous interpretation of what occurred on Easter Saturday ("He descended into hell."), a day I tend not to reflect on a great deal.

Joy. Yes, absolutely. As a result of Jesus' death and resurrection we are able to experience joy. "Easter is our foretaste of glory divine." as David Mathis asserts. Easter enables us to step out as more than conquerors in the knowledge that Jesus has defeated death and should equip us to share His immense love with all those people we meet on our life's journey.

This outstanding resource is available for Free as a PDF on the Desiring God website and I would encourage everyone to grab it. I will certainly be using it again next year.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Holy Week devotional was very well-written. It is theologically sound and made my holy week meaningful. It is the best of its kind that I have read/used. The Scriptures are contained within each days reading, so it can be read with or without a Bible on hand (though you may want one for the Holy Saturday evening reading, which is doctrinally thick discourse on Sheol that includes many cross references). Though it says it is by John Piper, it includes entries by many others, including: Andreas Kostenberger, Justin Taylor, David Mathis, Jon Bloom, and Tony Reinke).

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of devotional meditations penned by eleven different authors. It was neat to read the different writing styles and perspectives offered. There were meditations that made me think. Overall, it wasn't life-changing or heart-altering for me, but I appreciated the chance to ponder Christ with these pastors and scholars.

[Michael Schmid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of morning and evening readings and devotionals for passion week from different authors. It is a good day-by-day companion for the events as they unfolded in the life of Christ and His disicples with a message of joy and hope for us today.

[Josh Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really helped me think through and meditate on Easter. Some of the entries seemed quite the same for morning and evening, but still served well for my meditations and were short and to the point.
I'll be reading this next year.

[Marguerite Harrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thankful for this book and I did learned that I haven't learned before! We should be reading this book even it isn't during the Holy Week. We all do have a lot to be thankful for this in every way!

[Kelly Deibler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, holy week devotional. It's not just by John Piper though; there are many authors who contributed.

[Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morning and evening reflections for each day of Holy Week. Encouraging, worshipful, biblical devotional-readings.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reflective book for Holy week. It really helps set the tone for what the week is about. Would absolutely recommend.