Wedneday of Holy Week

Wednesday

Mark 14: 1-11

 

Jesus is back in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper.  An unnamed woman sits down beside him and pours oil on his head.  Jesus will say that she is preparing his body for its burial.

 

I wonder if that was the final straw for Judas.  That what he saw in this moment was an exaggerated act of indulgence and waste.  And perhaps he simply couldn’t take any more.  For Wednesday is the day that he left his friends and went to the authorities.  Today is the day we remember the act of betrayal.

 

What is it about Judas that intrigues me so?  Does he intrigue you, too?  Maybe it is because he is so much like us:  

He is a friend that can no longer see the good in a friendship.  

 

He is a worrier that focuses only on worst case scenarios.  

 

He is angry and chooses poorly what to do with his anger.  

 

We do not have to agree with Judas or condone his actions in order to have compassion for him.  Even Jesus had compassion for him.  

 

For he could be us.

 

He could be me.

 

The stakes were high and the plot thickens.  It is Wednesday.

 

Dear God,

Have mercy on me.

I know what I do,

And I do it anyway.

Love me, still.

Amen.