It’s Wednesday.

•  It’s three days after Jesus entered through the gates of Jerusalem with much fanfare and the peoples’ anticipation of seeing Jesus and discussing the many things he had done.

•  It’s two days after the incident at the temple.

•  It’s only one day after the thirty pieces of silver.

Obviously, Jesus knew the real story.  The events of Sunday, Monday, and (in his own

knowledge) Tuesday, had to have taken a mental toll on Jesus, the man. Yet he remained  steadfast in the path in front of him. His divine path and grace are what led us to where we  are now.

The scriptures really don’t dig deeply into Holy Wednesday. In fact, they offer very little. Biblical scholars speculate that after two exhausting days in Jerusalem, Jesus and the disciples spent the day resting in Bethany in anticipation of Passover. You can probably make an assessment; Jesus and the disciples took the day off.

Jesus and his disciples traveled outside of the walls a few more miles to Bethany to the house of Simon the Leper and is the day on which Jesus was anointed with an expensive perfume during a meal.  (Matthew 26:6-13) Judas objected to what he deemed as wasteful spending of money that would have been better utilized for the poor. 

Something that I wasn’t aware of was that Judas held the money for the disciples and was referred to as a thief. He had a shallow reason for not wanting to spend the money. It wasn’t because it could be used for the poor. He wanted to keep it for himself. Jesus rebuked him along with the other disciples who object: “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me”. ~ John 12:8 

Take a moment now and reflect on the impact that comment should have made. 

I’m sure the disciples were angry about the perfume and didn’t pick up on the significance of his statement. Jesus knew he was going to die, and he thought of the people that he was going to leave behind for the sins of mankind. Jesus knew what was in store for all of them. He knew their heightened feeling that something significant was happening and that they needed some down time to rest and to make sense of it all.

In summary, the scriptures (compared to what happened before and after today) are relatively silent about these twenty-four hours. And for us, perhaps that’s the significance of this single non-eventful day. That we can relax and reflect on our Holy Week comings and goings. We can take in the simple wonders of the world around us and in the promise that God and his Son made for us. The promise of everlasting life.