Wednesday in Holy Week

Despite all my years of Chris an faith, I didn’t know this day had a name un l, in prepara on for this
ar cle, I googled, “the Wednesday of Holy Week.” Today is Spy Wednesday. Because it is the day we
remember that Judas Iscariot met with the Sanhedrin to plot his betrayal of Jesus, because Judas and
the Jewish priests acted as spies to do Jesus in, we have a descrip ve albeit li le remembered name for
this day.
Ma hew 26:14-16: “Then one of the Twelve-the one called Judas Iscariot-went to the chief priests 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. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”

Luke 22:1-6 “Now the Fes val of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief
priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of
the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief
priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They
were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand
Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.”

Upto this point, Judas had been a part of Jesus in mate circle. the 12 disciples. For the 3 years of
ministry, he had witnessed with his own eyes, seen Jesus perform miracles; healing, feeding crowds,
raising the dead etc. He had seen so much love, he lived with love incarnate and yet, s ll turned against
Him. The ins nct of self preserva on.
In some ways, Judas was the most true of the apostles. He could see the wri ng on the wall, so to
speak. He must have realized that come what may, Jesus was going to die. He had to. And so he
switched over. And decided to profit from it. He may have even been afraid that if he didn't do
something like that, He would come down with Jesus. He might be killed as well.
The shrewd operator who knows how to save his own skin and make a profit in the process. A grave
miscalcula on. I wonder if he had heard Jesus saying "whoever wishes to save his life will/must lose it
and whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain
the whole world and lose his soul" Kwa kuwa mtu atakaye kuiponya nafsi yake, ataiangamiza, na mtu
atakayeiangamiza nafsi yake kwa ajili yangu na kwa ajili ya Injili, huyu ataisalimisha. Kwa kuwa
itamfaidia mtu nini kuupata ulimwengu wote, akipata hasara ya nafsi yake?
Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray him. They all say, surely it is not I Lord. Yet all of us
are capable of a great betrayal. Smaller sins coursen our heart and lead to bigger sins. Yes, it is
possible. That you and I, We can, through our own choices, become the kind of person that our present
self would recoil from.

O en when I think of Judas, I feel great sorrow in my heart. In my prepara on for this word, I came
across a text that read, that even a er the betrayal, if Judas had only repented and turned back to the
Lord, then Jesus would have forgiven him. And I believe that to be true. He did come to the realiza on
that what he had done was a grave mistake. Ma 27: ....he was seized with remorse and returned the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed
innocent blood.” And instead he despairs and he takes his own life. And Jesus says something about
him that is very sad, He says that it would've been be er if Judas had never been born. And you can
agree with me, that this has unanimously been understood that Judas went to hell, right?
God doesn't want anyone to go to hell.
I certainly don't. I find its concept one of those hard mysteries of our faith. But I do accept it because it
is one of the clearest and most consistent doctrines taught by Jesus. If hell doesn't exist then the life,
death and resurrec on of the Messiah are meaningless.

I think Chris ans, faithful Chris ans acknowledge that hell exists, but we think it's only for maybe Judas
and Hitler. Maybe some mass murderers. And this is a dangerous presump on. Surely it is not I Lord.