The Cross in the Marketplace

There was something in the air.
There were rumours circulating, graffiti on the walls,
strange tales of what had been happening.
Messengers shouting in the street …

What would it have been like to be a pilgrim on the crowded streets of Jerusalem for that fateful Passover? A week that ended with a King – a convicted enemy of the state – dying on a cross on the town garbage heap.

Can we see through the eyes of those who were there, the people who witnessed the events? What can we learn from the man with the water jug, or the Roman centurion? What can the woman with the alabaster jar tell us, or the young man who ran away naked as Roman soldiers tried to seize him? What is their story? What did it all mean to them? How did that first Easter change their lives?

The Cross in the Marketplace is a series of resources and complete liturgies for the major services of Holy Week. The book began life in community on Iona, and includes an Easter pilgrimage. You can use the book in your church or house group or read it on your own, to deepen your experience of Easter – and inspire action.


Dave Broom is a teacher and a former member of the Iona Community’s Resident Group on Iona, where he worked as Sacristan in Iona Abbey.

176 pages