Spy Wednesday
A Day of Clandestine Meetings
Wednesday of Passion Week is traditionally called "Spy Wednesday" because of the secret meetings that took place on this day. Here is what happened on Spy Wednesday:
The Chief Priests and Elders Meet: They decide to stealthily arrest and execute Jesus because they feared the reaction of the people. After all, just 3 days earlier, the people shouted "Hosanna" and waved palm branches for Jesus. (Matt 26:1-5, Mark 14:1-2, Luke 22:1-2, John 11:47-53)
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus: Possibly indignant from Jesus' anointing at Bethany (John 12:6) or just disillusioned, Judas agrees to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. (Matt 26:14-16, Mark 14:10-11, Luke 22:3-6, John 13:2;13:27;6:70-71)
“He became what we are so that he might make us what he is.”
— St. Athanasius
Did You Know?
In John 11, when the Chief Priests and Elders met to discuss how they might secretly arrest and execute Jesus, Caiaphas the High Priest uttered prophetic truth when he said, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (John 11:50). Caiaphas did not know the cosmic weight of what he said as he viewed Jesus’ death as a matter of political expediency, but John interpreted this unwitting prophecy in terms of Jesus’ substitutionary death on behalf of Jews and Gentiles.
The 30 pieces of silver they agreed to pay Judas were a paltry sum and fulfilled Zechariah 11:12. The amount constituted a month’s wages. This was the price an Israelite had to pay his neighbor if his ox accidentally gored his neighbor’s slave to death (Exod. 21:32). This small amount of money shows the light esteem with which the chief priests and Judas regarded Jesus (see Isaiah 53:3)
