Spy Wednesday
Matthew 26:6-16
Wednesday went quietly. Too quietly.
With the previous three days awash in drama — Sunday’s triumphal entry, Monday’s temple cleansing, and Tuesday’s temple controversies — now Wednesday, April 1, A.D. 33, comes like the calm before the storm.
Out of sight, lurking in the shadows, evil is afoot. The Wednesday of Holy Week is called “Spy Wednesday.” Spy Wednesday? Why "Spy"? After Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin gathered and plotted to kill Jesus before the feast of Passover. On the Wednesday before his death, Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. As he sat at the supper table with his disciples, a woman anointed Jesus' head and feet with a costly oil of nard. The disciples were indignant, asking why the oil was not sold and the money given to the poor. But Judas Iscariot wanted to keep the money for himself. Then Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered to deliver Jesus to them in exchange for money. From this moment on, Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus. Because of Judas Iscariot's intent to betray Jesus, formed on Holy Wednesday, the day is called "Spy Wednesday" It is this day when the significant pieces come together in the plot for the most significant sin in all of history, the murder of the Son of God.
Caiaphas, the high priest, gathers to his private residence the chief priests and Pharisees — two competing groups, typically at odds, now partners in their ache to be rid of the Galilean. They scheme to kill him but don’t have all the pieces in place yet. They fear the approving masses and don’t want to stir up the assembled hordes during Passover. The initial plan is to wait till after the feast unless some unforeseen opportunity emerges.
Enter the traitor.
In the middle of this drama a simple act that has been repeated and praised happened. The anointing.
_Cropped.jpg/797px-Mary_Magdalen_anointing_Christ%E2%80%99s_feet_(f._15v)_Cropped.jpg)
Jesus was approached by a woman, Mary, the sister of Martha. She took “costly ointment” and anointed Jesus. An objection comes from the disciples — John 12:4 says it was Judas — “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This was, after all, an enormous sum, more than a year’s wages. It would have gone a long way for charity. This may very well have been Mary's dowery.
But Jesus doesn’t share Judas’s miserliness. Here extravagance is in its rightful place. The Kingdom He brings resists utilitarian economics. He sees in Mary’s “waste” a worship that goes beyond the rational, calculated, efficient use of time and money. For Mary, Jesus is worth every shekel and more. The Anointed himself says what she has done is “a beautiful thing” (Matthew 26:10).
So, how do you want to worship? Do you desire to praise the Lord efficiently, rationally, and calculated? Or do you want to worship the Lord extravagantly and "wasteful"? Your life, as a follower of Christ, is worship. So, how do you worship the Lord?
Wednesday went quietly. Too quietly.
With the previous three days awash in drama — Sunday’s triumphal entry, Monday’s temple cleansing, and Tuesday’s temple controversies — now Wednesday, April 1, A.D. 33, comes like the calm before the storm.
Out of sight, lurking in the shadows, evil is afoot. The Wednesday of Holy Week is called “Spy Wednesday.” Spy Wednesday? Why "Spy"? After Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin gathered and plotted to kill Jesus before the feast of Passover. On the Wednesday before his death, Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. As he sat at the supper table with his disciples, a woman anointed Jesus' head and feet with a costly oil of nard. The disciples were indignant, asking why the oil was not sold and the money given to the poor. But Judas Iscariot wanted to keep the money for himself. Then Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered to deliver Jesus to them in exchange for money. From this moment on, Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus. Because of Judas Iscariot's intent to betray Jesus, formed on Holy Wednesday, the day is called "Spy Wednesday" It is this day when the significant pieces come together in the plot for the most significant sin in all of history, the murder of the Son of God.
Caiaphas, the high priest, gathers to his private residence the chief priests and Pharisees — two competing groups, typically at odds, now partners in their ache to be rid of the Galilean. They scheme to kill him but don’t have all the pieces in place yet. They fear the approving masses and don’t want to stir up the assembled hordes during Passover. The initial plan is to wait till after the feast unless some unforeseen opportunity emerges.
Enter the traitor.
In the middle of this drama a simple act that has been repeated and praised happened. The anointing.
Jesus was approached by a woman, Mary, the sister of Martha. She took “costly ointment” and anointed Jesus. An objection comes from the disciples — John 12:4 says it was Judas — “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This was, after all, an enormous sum, more than a year’s wages. It would have gone a long way for charity. This may very well have been Mary's dowery.
But Jesus doesn’t share Judas’s miserliness. Here extravagance is in its rightful place. The Kingdom He brings resists utilitarian economics. He sees in Mary’s “waste” a worship that goes beyond the rational, calculated, efficient use of time and money. For Mary, Jesus is worth every shekel and more. The Anointed himself says what she has done is “a beautiful thing” (Matthew 26:10).
So, how do you want to worship? Do you desire to praise the Lord efficiently, rationally, and calculated? Or do you want to worship the Lord extravagantly and "wasteful"? Your life, as a follower of Christ, is worship. So, how do you worship the Lord?
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