May the peace of Christ crucified be with you and your family.
We continue on our journal of Jesus’ last days here on earth. As we have learned, Holy Tuesday was a grueling and tiresome day for Jesus. He spent the whole day in the temple teaching and preaching to His followers. At the same time, He was also correcting the Scribes, Pharisees, Chief Priests and Law Experts of their wrongful interpretations of the scriptures and of the Law of Moses.
Holy Wednesday (Spy Wednesday)
Today, Holy Wednesday, Jesus did not go back to Jerusalem. Jesus used this day for a much-needed rest. Note that aside from the His activities in Jerusalem, Jesus and disciples were also busy preparing for their Passover feast.
While Jesus was in Bethany resting, the people who are plotting against Him were not at rest. They tried to discredit and destroy Jesus’ reputation by arguing and debating with Him. But Jesus was just too knowledgeable and full of authority scripture and law wise for any of those leaders.
The temple leaders are losing their credibility over the people. They fear that Jesus and His followers will soon take over their roles. They would lose their livelihood, their status in the community and their pride. They made it clear among themselves that the only way they could win back the trust of the people is to kill Jesus.
The leaders in their most scheming and devious ways designed a grand conspiracy to kill Jesus. The leaders plot was: to entrap Jesus, create lies about Him, twist His words and use those same words against Him, accuse Him of blasphemy, pit Jesus against the Romans and then use the chaos of the mob to eventually make Him suffer and die like a criminal. In the leaders’ minds, their scheme will cement their status and secure their repute among the people.
To make their plan happen, the leaders needed an inside man within Jesus’ entourage. They looked for someone within Jesus’ most trusted closed associates whom they could entice to betray Him. The weakest link was Judas Iscariot.
The Chief Priest, named Caiaphas, propositioned Judas to give up Jesus over thirty pieces of silver. A silver piece is a Roman coin called Denarius. One piece is equivalent to one day’s wage. Thirty pieces of silver would then be equal to one month’s wage. Judas was the one handling the finances (money bag) of Jesus’ circle. Judas was also known as having dipped his hands into the money bag.
Judas was tempted. He took the offer and made a deal with the leaders that he will give Jesus to them at the right time. Judas will lead the leaders and the soldiers to where Jesus would be on the night before the Passover feast. The leaders did not want to arrest Jesus on the day of the Passover because they are afraid that the people will riot. Judas agreed to identify Jesus with a kiss.
These conspiracy planning and devious conniving which all happened on Holy Wednesday has earned for this day to be called Spy Wednesday.
On that same Spy Wednesday, Jesus was invited by a Pharisee, named Simon, to dine at his house in Bethany. Jesus accepted the invite although He knew that Simon’s invitation was not so much of a friendly welcome.  Simon had Jesus at his house to continue to spy on Him and find out if there are anything they could use against Him.
While Jesus was reclined in a chair, a woman known to be a sinner came and anointed Jesus’ head with an expensive perfume. The woman lovingly wept as she anoints Jesus. Simon protested. He insisted that the woman is a sinner and that the expensive perfume should be sold and be given to the poor.
Jesus then narrated that the poor they will always have, but He will soon be gone. Jesus is now predicting his own would-be death. Jesus also explained that both Simon and the woman are sinners. That they are both forgiven. And the one who has more sins would appreciate the forgiveness more than the one who has less sins.
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Tomorrow is Holy Thursday, the beginning of TRIDUUM (three days) of the Lord's Paschal Mystery - suffering, death and resurrection.  We are going to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 6.30 in the evening. I invite you to join our parish clergy (Msgr. Casey, Deacons Frank and Jim, and myself) for the livestreaming of this Mass. There will be no washing of the feet. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for an HOUR of ADORATION immediately after the Mass.
Here's the LINK for our LIVE Streamed Mass in Youtube at 6.30PM:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHYfsolDzqv