I was intrigued this morning when I came across a bit of an English Lenten Carol.

“It was on Spy Wednesday,

And all in the morning,

That Judas betrayed our dear heav’nly King:

And was not this a woeful thing?

And sweet Jesus we’ll call him by name.”

 

In Mark 14:3-11 & Matt. 26:6-13 we have two interesting events.  Two days prior to the Passover Jesus is in Bethany eating with a leper named Simon when a woman comes in and anoints Jesus with costly ointment.  Some were indignant over such a waste of money which could have been used to feed the poor.  (In John 12, it’s Judas who complains.  It’s also Mary who does the anointing.)  However, Jesus commends her, because she has prepared his body for burial even before the crucifixion.  Could the faint sweetness of that oil have lingered with Jesus as he is abused after his arrest, perhaps even as he was carried to the tomb?  Jesus comments that wherever the good news is proclaimed the woman and what she has done will be remembered.

Immediately following Jesus’ anointment, Judas goes to the chief priests to offer to betray Jesus into their hands.  “And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.”  What Judas did is also remembered, but not well remembered.

Yet the woman in Bethany and Judas, both in their own way, prepared Jesus for his burial, and paved the way for his resurrection.

Prayer of the Day:

Merciful and everlasting God, You did not spare Your only Son but delivered Him up for us all to bear our sins on the cross.  Grant that our hearts may be so fixed with steadfast faith in Him that we fear not the power of sin, death, and the devil; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.