SPY WEDNESDAY
03302021 –
Wednesday went quietly…along its merry way.
Too quietly…it seemed like a drama-free-day…at least so far.
With the previous three days “awash in drama” – lots of drama — Sunday’s triumphal albeit a little bit embarrassing entry into the Holy City, Monday’s fiasco of a temple cleansing, and Tuesday’s temple controversies with all the TEMPLE OFFICIALS going completely crazy— and now Wednesday, kind of like the calm before the proverbial storm.
But out of sight, lurking in the shadows, evil is afoot. It usually is. You know – it is out there. Somewhere. In the background. Never far away. Awaiting its time. Getting ready to raise its evil head. That’s what it does. It waits.
(The church has long called this day “Spy Wednesday,” as the “dark conspiracy” against Jesus races forward, not just from enemies outside, but NOW with a traitor- from WITHIN.)
On this day, this night, the key pieces are slowly, but surely, coming together.
Behind the scenes the plot is thickening.
Jesus wakes, again, just outside Jerusalem, in Bethany, where he has been staying at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
His teaching again attracts a crowd in the temple. They love his teaching. He is constantly surrounded by the crowds, huge crowds of people…
Here is THE RABBI FROM NAZARETH IN GALILEE…they shout…
But now, the Jewish leaders, silenced by him just yesterday, will leave him be.
Oh, they still watch him from afar. They try to make note of his every movement. They watch. They try and overhear. They are sickened by what they see.
Today, for now, they will avoid “any and all public confrontation” and instead connive in private. It is better that way.
Annas and Caiaphas, the high priest, (and his father-in-law) gather to their private residence the chief priests and Pharisees — two competing groups, typically at odds, now “bedfellows” in their ache to be rid of the Galilean…once and for all. “HOW” to best silence him. “WHERE” to best silence him. “WHEN” to best silence him.
They plot to KILL him, but DO NOT have all the pieces in place yet.
They FEAR the approving-growing-masses, and DO NOT want to stir up the ASSEMBLED HORDES during Passover. It is a problem. It is a huge problem, one, YET to be resolved.
The initial plan is to WAIT till AFTER the FEAST UNLESS some unforeseen opportunity emerges first.
They WAIT for him to “SAY” the wrong thing or to publicly “DO” the wrong thing. Then, they will seize the moment. For now, they must bide their time and WAIT…
When, seemingly out of nowhere, night is falling fast, JUDAS appears, one of the twelve…EAGER to talk…and probably more eager to be paid. In the darkness he comes…hemming and hawing and shuffling his sandals. Betrayal is such a nasty word. Traitor equally nasty. Who cares anyhow?
INSULT and INJURY, the betrayer and the cross…what a horrid combination. One of YOUR own…a FRIEND…a COMRADE…a CONFIDANT. Someone you TRUSTED and LOVED and CARED about…and for.
And then, there is the CROSS of ROME. LOOMING. That TREE, that POST, meant for the hanging of slaves….and for all manner of humiliation and degradation.
“Good old Judas.” Iscariot. The Treasurer. The Keeper of the Common Purse. The go to guy. Jingling coins called to his soul.
From the beginning of his public ministry, the disciples have been AT THE SIDE of Jesus.
They have LEARNED from him, TRAVELED with him, MINISTERED with him, been his COMPANIONS, and COMFORTED him as he walked this otherwise lonely road to Jerusalem.
How could ONE OF THEM…
How could ANY of them…
And yet, HERE STANDS ONE OF THEM. Eyes cast down, but hands eagerly extended for payment. And eagerly telling them, ALL that they wanted to hear.
Is that what this boils down to? PERSONAL gain. PAYMENT? MONEY? A few coins to throw into the coffer. Or is there something MORE?
Jesus has had to bear MANY burdens during these THREE long grueling years.
Perhaps this was one, he could not have seen coming…NOT NOW. Not tonight. And yet, Judas clearly has left. He left into the NIGHT. Into the OUTER DARKNESS he went. Freely. Certainly, he was compelled by no one. Certainly, he acted alone. Certainly.
WHY?
What “motive” could he possibly have? “Why” would he do it?
IS THERE EVER A GOOD REASON?
More remarkable than this depth of EMPTINESS and FORSAKENNESS on this night is the HEIGHT OF LOVE which Jesus will soon show…when he opens his arms wide to ALL…Judas and YOU and I included.
And we thought this was going to be a drama free day!