Welcome back to our Holy Week series. Today we’re looking at what happened Wednesday. We call it Holy Wednesday or Spy Wednesday. We are two days away from Passover, and things are happening quickly, and it starts with a heavy revelation.
When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Matthew 26:1-2
Well that wasn’t mincing words. Jesus is very clear what is about to happen. He is living with a vivid awareness of the fact that in two days He would be betrayed and crucified. Imagine living in the tension of that! We see Him dotting all His i’s and crossing all His t’s. He’s focused and intentional. He’s making sure He is finishing everything the Father gave Him to do and say.
Let’s imagine for a moment and put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples. What must they be thinking? I’m sure what happened just a couple days earlier was still front and center in their thoughts.
“Wait a minute! Handed over and crucified? By whom? These people love You! They were just worshipping as You entered Jerusalem. Garments and palm branches. Hosanna and donkeys! Ringing any bells, Jesus?”
I mean, after all He had walked out of trouble and walked away from danger more times than they could count. Why should this time be any different? All of this was likely going through their minds. What would you be thinking?
Then we see something happening simultaneously to this.
At that same time the leading priests and elders were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas, the high priest, 4 plotting how to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. 5 “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”
Matthew 26:3-5 nlt
They were plotting His death at the very same moment He was predicting it.
Everything was happening so quickly, and we see the closer to the fulfillment of prophecy we get the faster everything seems to happen.
Let’s note what the chief elders and priests said about the timing of things. “But not during Passover.” That’s exactly what they said. This made me giggle. They were plotting His death, but they wanted to make sure it was AFTER the Passover so the people wouldn’t riot. But Passover is precisely when it happened!
This shows us they were not in control. They were never in control of what was going to happen to Jesus.
Jesus was fully in control of all of the events pertaining to the plan of God for His crucifixion. The chief priest and elders weren’t. The enemy wasn’t. God always was, and He still is.
Jesus predicted. The chief priests plotted. God brought it all to pass in His perfect way and timing.
Then we jump right to Jesus eating at Simon’s house.
Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. 7 While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. 8 The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said. 9 “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? 11 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. 12 She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. 13 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”
Matthew 26:6-13 nlt
We look back at this now and call it a beautiful picture of worship. But again, what were they thinking that night? Their response always reminds me of the rich young ruler, when Jesus told him to sell everything he had, give the money to the poor, and then follow Him. Is that what they were reminded of? Because it sounds like the same verbiage. This was not prescriptive, what He told the rich young ruler, for the church to follow. It was descriptive because Jesus knew what had a grasp on this young man’s heart and He was trying to help him be free.
But here Jesus described to everyone there what was happening. She had anointed Him to prepare His for burial.
Listen, that woman probably had no idea the significance of what she was doing until Jesus said that. She probably wasn’t at home, grabbing that bottle of expensive perfume and thinking, “I better not forget this. I need to anoint Jesus and prepare Him for His burial!”
She likely had no idea why she was doing what she was doing in the moment. She just felt compelled to do it.
It’s important that we obey those little promptings of the Holy Spirit. It’s important that we obey when our heart is moved to do something. We don’t need to know all the whys and whats. We don’t need to understand every detail of the plan.
This woman just did something that was a little out of the ordinary, but it was more significant than she could ever know.
Sometimes He nudges us to do things that don’t make sense. They may not even seem to be that important. But faith is obeying in the mystery all the tiny steps He puts in front of us. All He is looking for is our simple obedience.
It’s not blind faith. It’s faith that trusts the heart of God. And we trust Him enough to act even when we don’t understand all the nuances of what He’s asking us to do.
Because this woman yielded to the prompting to bring the perfume to a place she wasn’t even supposed to be and pour this precious and expensive perfume she invested in and had saved for a special occasion over Jesus, she played a part in Passion Week that has been recorded in Scripture and we are still talking about 2,000 years later.
Obey the little nudges.
What if Paul hadn’t done the little thing of writing letters to churches to encourage them and answer their questions? Where would we be today?
There was no way Paul knew, sitting in that jail cell, that the letter he wrote to his friends in Philippi was going to become part of the Word of God. He obeyed a prompting to write to his friends and the truths he wrote of are still blessing and teaching us today.
You don’t know the impact your obedience to do something small will have on the kingdom of God. And we don’t need to know. He only needs your yes. He only wants our obedience.
The saddest part of Holy Wednesday is the reason it can also be referred to as Spy Wednesday. It’s when Judas made a deal with the leaders and elders to betray Jesus.
One place says that Satan entered his heart.
So let’s talk about the importance of guarding our hearts. Judas had issues prior to this. In John’s account, it says:
But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
John 12:4-6 nlt
Let’s say it again. Judas had heart issues where money was concerned long before he betrayed Jesus. There was a root already there that Satan could use to tempt him to do what he did .
The enemy will use what is already there, so we need to kill those things in our hearts that don’t belong. They won’t die a natural death. We need to cleanse the temple, right?
It had to happen. The betrayal had to happen. It was prophesied in psalms.
Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
Psalm 41:9 nkjv
It had to happen, but I would not have wanted that to happen through me.
In keeping with the heart checks of Holy Week, let’s ask ourselves some questions.
Is there anything that has a root in me? Is there any flesh or unholy desire lurking in the shadows of my soul that the enemy can use? What in my flesh needs to die?
AND
What little promptings have I been avoiding? Where do I need to obey? Delayed obedience is disobedience, and I want to be quick to obey Him.
Let’s put a guard over our hearts. We want to be the ones that stay close to Jesus to the end, like John.
As we prepare our hearts two days before Passover, let’s pray.
Lord, give us boldness to obey, even the little things and especially when it doesn’t make sense. Give us hearts that are sensitive and responsive to Your touch and to Your voice. Help us guard our hearts, kill any roots that need to die, and be quick to obey the smallest nudges of Your Spirit.
In Jesus’ Name.
Amen