WEDNESDAY 8th
“Bought Off”
The Gospels say hardly anything about Jesus on the Wednesday of Holy Week. It may be that some of the lengthy “teaching in the Temple” happened then (Luke 21:37) or perhaps Jesus spent the whole day resting and preparing with the disciples back in the safety of Bethany.
The vital events of the day actually have more to do with Judas than Jesus.
Mark 11:12-19
14 Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
The impenetrable mystery: why did Judas do it?
Was he really the dark and sinister betrayer? Or was he simply a good man gone wrong? Was he trying to force the issue somehow and bring Jesus out into the open? Perhaps he had got involved with the wrong crowd, or fallen into the temptation of gambling, drink or sex. Or maybe like many of us he just liked money too much.
As we ‘walk the week’ the key question for us is not about Judas but about our own ‘selling out.’ How and why do we allow ourselves to be ‘bought off’?
Why not take a simple plastic money bag, fill it with thirty coins – pennies will do fine – and carry it around in your bag or pocket all day, just to keep you thinking.
A final thought: did Jesus know what Judas was up to, and if he did, what was he feeling about it? Of course, the same question applies to us today.
