Wednesday of Holy Week is known as Spy Wednesday. It is traditionally the day that Judas plotted to betray Jesus.
Father Lawrence Lew via Flickr, licensed cc
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”
He said,
“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
‘The teacher says, My appointed time draws near;
in your house, I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘”
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He said in reply,
“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”
Even Judas ponders whether he will truly go through with the betrayal or not – something that I have taken to mean that Judas too had free will.
With that in mind, today is a good day to make an examination of conscience. There are several in my Lenten Links above.
Traditionally this is the day to clean out the fireplace and hearth in preparation for Easter. Catholic Cuisine also had directions for making a special rope type of bread called Judases to mark Judas’s ultimate end.
This is the traditional day of observing Tenebrae, the extinguishing of light around the altar. Perhaps formally extinguishing candles at dinner would be a good effect on the domestic church.
Some parishes replace the lovely bells with the wooden clapper on this day. My parish returned to this a few years ago and I think it is very dramatic and appropriate for the somberness of this week leading up to Easter.
The Cercis Siliquastrum is also called the Judas Tree. It is said to be the tree that Judas hung himself on. The flowers are said to have blushed red over the shame of that event.
Bosc d’Anjou via Flickr, licensed cc.
More on Spy Wednesday
Patheos
From Fish Eaters – great stuff here!
Something for little kids
Other rope crafts:
So Crafty
A new rope craft for us this year simply uses twine to hang these pictures of the 10 plagues of Egypt. I bought the pictures to color from Teachers Pay Teachers. Then I just used construction paper to cut the triangles to place between each picture after they were colored and then glued to heavy-duty note cards. They turned out pretty nice and I even took the craft to use with my homeschool co-op.
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