Wednesday of the Holy Week
Have you ever played chess? A chess match can be as complex as the people playing. As the game progresses, it is possible to look ahead many moves. Sometimes the best strategy demands the use of a move called a sacrifice. While this sacrifice may seem like folly to an opponent, it can encourage a series of events that ultimately ends with your opponents collapse. Thus, temporary folly unlocks long term positive results. In the case of chess that means a checkmate. In the case of faith, that means eternal results.
It must have been apparent to Jesus that a betrayal was at hand. The obviousness may have come from the fact that the emotions of the week were so palatable; that Jesus could sense the change in the communities’ spirit. Something was different in the energy of the group. This was not the group who had only a few days before cheered for him and laid palms down in his path. But what did Jesus sense? Fear, disappointment, and anxiety were all part of the storm clouds that were gathering. Surely even the twelve knew that something was amiss.
Foresight of the pending confrontation aside, Jesus gathered his friends for a Passover Meal. This was not just supper, but a ritual celebration of the events that led the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. Ritually Passover recalls the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb, whose blood would protect the chosen people from the angel of death. At the heart of this meal was representation and memorialization of the God’s deep love and mercy for His people. In the midst of this ritual meal, begins the ultimate example of lack of trust and faith, the betrayal of Jesus.
Spy Wednesday lets us look deeply into the mind of Judas so as to see ourselves. At times, we too have handed Jesus over. We too have sold Jesus and all that we have been taught for a price. We too have come to the conclusion that God really needs to act in the way I desire, not vice versa.
This last full day of Lent confronts us radically. Perhaps more than any other day, it challenges us to look into the depths of our souls and extract everything that separates us from the love of God. It is only when we completely reject sinfulness itself that we are fully able to enter into communion with our Lord. This full and active participation in our faith demands that our hearts, minds and souls are conformed to Christ.
Our confirmation of Christ means that we are willing to set our faces like flint, even as we are buffeted and spit upon. It means that we are willing to endure suffering in the name of Christ. It means that we are intimately rooted in our relationship with the Lord that even in the face of death itself, we will not rebel from faithful discipleship.
Loving and Merciful God, continue to be our help so that we have the foresight to understand that the hardships we endure are not meant to put us to shame. Revive our broken hearts so that no matter what confronts us, we only have zeal to do Your will, who lives and reigns one God, forever and ever. Amen!
- Michael Montgomery