On Holy Wednesday, one evening prior to the Last Supper, Jesus dined in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper on the southern slope of the Mount of Olives. In the course of the repast, Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, anointed Jesus with spikenard. There’s some confusion as to precisely who all the key players are, including whether Simon and Lazarus are really one and the same. There’s also a question as to how many anointings Jesus enjoyed—or was subjected to—in Bethany over the course of his various sojourns there. Whatever the truth of it, Holy Wednesday is most significantly commemorated as the day Judas decided to betray Jesus. It also provides a profound testimony of the depths of Divine love.
For this reason, Holy Wednesday is also known as Spy Wednesday, gesturing to an etymological correspondence between “spy” and “ambush,” or “ensnarement.” Perhaps indignant at what he perceived Jesus’ indulgence of Mary and the wasteful misuse of precious oil—or, maybe more likely, because of his annoyance that he wouldn’t be able to embezzle the proceeds—Judas slipped away to the chief priests and offered to help them arrest Jesus.
Jesus knew all this of course.
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