Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is traditionally called Spy Wednesday, in the belief that since it is the day before the celebration of the Last Supper of the Lord with His disciples, it was the day that Judas Iscariot went secretly to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin to seek to betray the Lord, colluding with them for a sum of thirty pieces of silver, and therefore set the sequence of events that would led to the Lord’s arrest in the Gardens of Gethsemane, His trial and condemnation to death, and finally crucifixion.

In our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard of the suffering Servant of God, which in fact was the prophecy made by Isaiah regarding the Saviour, Who would be bruised, mocked and beaten, humiliated and crushed for our sins and punishments, and all of these would happen for the Lord, just as He has predicted and revealed to His disciples, how He would be betrayed by one of His own, condemned by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin.

It is worth noting today that the Lord was ‘sold’ out by Judas Iscariot for a sum of thirty pieces of silver. This sum is significant as that was the usual sum required at that time to purchase a slave, and therefore it was very symbolic of how the Lord allowed Himself to be like a slave for us, humiliated and crushed, treated like the worst of criminals and destroyed, so that through all of His sufferings, we may be spared from those punishments that should have been due for us, and gain eternal life through Him.

The Lord loved us all so much that He was willing to go through all these for our sake. If not for the great and amazing love He had for us, all of us would have perished and be crushed for our sins. That is why we ought to be thankful that He willingly took up all the burdens of our sins and punishments upon Himself, that by His sufferings and trials, He has led us out of the darkness and into the light, freeing us from the bondage to sin and death.

As we listened to all of these, do we all realise just how fortunate we are to have been beloved in such a way? And yet, we continue to sin, disobeying God and refusing to follow Him wholeheartedly. If we think what Judas Iscariot had done was terrible and evil, and we also often laid the blame on him for having betrayed the Lord, we must not forget that in our actions and behaviour we have also often acted like Judas, choosing to prioritise other things beside God, to put others before Him.

In fact, we often forget about the Lord and we only remembered Him when we had a need and wanted the Lord to give us help for what we wanted. And it is often that we forget about the Lord again when we have already gotten what we needed, and often not even being grateful for all that we have received and what we have been blessed with. We continue to live in a state of sin and refusing to repent or change our ways. And this is why, we are no better than Judas Iscariot.

What is different however, is that Judas despaired and committed suicide in grief and regret for all of his actions, while we are still living and still having the opportunities and chances to make amends for our faults and mistakes. We are all called to embrace God’s forgiveness and mercy, and we should appreciate this time and opportunity that God has given us. This Holy Week we are given this strong reminder of God’s love for us, His compassionate love and mercy, with which He wants us to be reconciled with Him.

Are we willing to make the commitment to follow the Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing and capable of dedicating ourselves to respond to God’s call? Let us all turn towards Him with a renewed faith, and rediscover that love and zeal we ought to have for Him, as we approach the great Easter Triduum beginning tomorrow, that we may grow ever stronger in faith and be ever closer to God. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.