04082020 – SPY WEDNESDAY
PASSOVER is still celebrated by our Jewish brothers and sisters to this very day.
It is celebrated in remembrance of THOSE EVENTS that LIBERATED them from SLAVERY in “EGYPT LAND.”
“In the course of THOSE EVENTS”, they were “formed and created” as G*D’S COVENANTED, holy, CHOSEN-beloved people.
And it was YHWH G*D who brought them into the LAND where they could both SERVE and WORSHIP him.
It was “IMPORTANT”- religious time.
It was an ANNUAL FESTIVAL that was loved, appreciated and longed for…
The HOLY CITY was always TEEMING with giddy Passover PILGRIMS. The city itself could NEVER CONTAIN all the pilgrims that came. Therefore, the city BOUNDARIES had to be EXTENDED to include NEIGHBORING CITIES and VILLAGES.
This is a “FAMILY TIME.”
And Jesus too had planned with HIS surrogate-extended FAMILY to celebrate the HIGH HOLY DAYS together.
We don’t KNOW “HOW he KNEW,” but Jesus seemed to be AWARE that NOT everything was “KOSHER.” Something was up!
Something was “amiss!” Sometimes you just “know these things,” you “sense” them, you “feel” them…you just “KNOW,” you know? It was “an intuitive feeling…”
It was, as if, something was “out of place,” that everything was “not as it should be.” “Awry.” Something was “awry”, and it was “just NOT RIGHT!”
Could it possibly be that THE Jerusalem AUTHORITIES had BRIBED one of the twelve? Were they LOOKING FOR “inside information” on their WHEREABOUTS or THEIR MOVEMENTS or their LOCATION??
Might they have PAID someone handsomely for THIS or for some “OTHER damaging INFORMATION?”
Just “WHO” might they have contacted? “WHO” would they have descended upon? And “WHEN?”
The only one “GONE” for any “extended periods of time” would have been JUDAS who would gather “all the supplies” that were needed and necessary. As the “KEEPER of the COMMON PURSE,” he was always overly CONCERNED about MONEY. Surely, they would NOT have cornered HIM, would they?
What POSSIBLY could THEY want?
These twelve were all “solid-inner-core members” of this group. They were all a part of “the inner circle.” They were “close, tight, more like family” than friends.
To even consider “such a notion” was unthinkable, and yet, something was “AMISS.” Something was “askew.”
That Jesus would be BETRAYED by any one of them would be SHOCKING AND SURPRISING!
DISLOYALTY was never voiced, because there is but “ONE LOYALTY” that is important, and that is to G*D.
“Nothing else” REALLY matters.
SO, let’s confront “this BABY!”
IN typical “Mediterranean fashion,” displaying that “common Middle EASTERN mindset,” Jesus AVOIDS any kind of “direct accusation.”
You NEVER make an “ACCUSATION,” against another person especially when you are UNCERTAIN about it…to begin with…
You just “PUT IT OUT THERE” and let THEM deal with the “fallout!”
SO, instead, he simply says, “ONE OF YOU.” One of you is going to betray me!
Which quickly PROMPTS ALL of the disciples to say, “Surely, not I, Lord.”
And, it is ONLY to JUDAS that Jesus replies, “YOU HAVE SAID SO.” And you could have heard a pin drop!
Getting on top of this – is actually “a huge REASSURANCE” to his followers that Jesus is ON TO what “OTHERS are PLOTTING.” He is KNOWLEDGEABLE. He is in THE KNOW. He is ENLIGHTENED and NOT in the DARK! Plus, he is sharing the news with them, as well, keeping THEM in HIS LOOP!
Jesus is NOT about to be OUTWITTED!
It is JOHN’s GOSPEL that gives us the EERY DETAIL of information that JUDAS gets up from the table and goes out the door. AND IT IS NIGHT! (Dun dun dun)
We have to understand “some of the dynamics” that are going on behind the scenes. This doesn’t just happen. It has been planned. It takes time to pull this off.
Thirty pieces of silver for some much-VALUED INSIDE information. A pre-arranged signal, NOTED.
The STEALTH of the chief priests and elders. They are FEARFUL and WEAK. They are AFRAID of Jesus in the DAYLIGHT. They are afraid of THE CROWDS. They are afraid of A RIOT or any kind of ACTUAL DISTURBANCE.
FALSE charges.
False WITNESSES.
An ARMED crowd.
CLUBS AND SWORDS.
The COVER of darkness.
Knowing WHERE TO GO and WHEN.
And finally, that KISS on the CHEEK…a final sign…a final acknowledgment…and in the darkness of the night, JESUS OF NAZARETH would be theirs…
Amen.