Holy Week: Wednesday
Wednesday
What is wild about Wednesday of Holy week is that as much content as there was for Tuesday of Holy Week, there is hardly any for today. Wednesday of Holy Week is known as “Silent Wednesday or ‘Spy Wednesday’ in church tradition because of the lack of action in the Gospels. The truth is, after an exhausting Tuesday and Passover coming up, Jesus and His followers were resting in Bethany. Well, almost all His followers. One thing that Wednesday reminds us believers is that just because there’s silence from the Lamb of God, doesn’t mean there’s inactivity. Jesus is resting and focused on the task at hand. He will celebrate the Passover and teach His disciples, then go on to become the Passover Lamb for all the world. This day though, Jesus and the disciples were resting. There was however, the ‘spy’ who was busy.
Wednesday of Holy Week is regarded as the day that Judas committed in his mind and agreed with the religious leaders to betray Jesus and turn Him over to them. You can find this exchange in Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 14:10-11, and Luke 22:3-6. We will check out Matthew’s today.
Matthew 26: 14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Now in our economy 30 pieces of silver might sound like a lot of money (It’s approx. $336 today), but back then it was the price of buying a slave. The 30 pieces of silver is also important because it fulfills another 500-year-old prophecy in Zechariah.
Zecheriah 11: 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver.13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.
Judas tragically undervalued the worth of Jesus, but as all things go, this went as God intended it to.
Many Christians struggle with the question of why Judas would betray Jesus after all that he saw. The answer is alluded to in a scene that we see earlier in Holy week, Jesus’ anointing by Mary at Bethany. In John’s telling, he gives us a highlight into why it ended up being Judas who was the one who betrayed Jesus.
John 12: 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii[b] and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
When Luke covers Judas’ meeting with the religious leaders on ‘Spy Wednesday,’ he says that “Satan entered into Judas.” So, despite following Jesus, seeing the signs and wonders, and hearing the world-changing teachings of Jesus, Judas had allowed Satan a foothold in his mind and became the betrayer.
What a heartbreaking reality, but it is a powerful lesson for you and me. We cannot give Satan an inch or he will take the whole soul. Judas allowed the money bag to cause him to miss eternity with Jesus. This realization always makes me ask the question, “am I allowing something in my life to give Satan a foothold.”
Today, as we honor “Silent or Spy Wednesday,” the day the price of a slave was agreed upon by one of the 12 closes men to Jesus, let us make sure that we have truly surrendered all to follow Jesus and that there is nothing Satan can use to make us betray our Lord. Let us pray the prayer that David prayed in Psalm 139:
Psalm 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
There is nothing in this world worth the price of our relationship with Jesus. Today let us pray that prayer and say, “God, if there’s anything I am allowing to keep me from you show me and help me remove that from my life.” We do not want to fail like Judas or have a faith that is not as strong as it can be. Today let’s ask God to lead us in the way, everlasting!