Wednesday, April 13

“SPY” Wednesday, April 13 – What You and Others Put in Your Heart – Comes Out

This day of Holy Week is sometimes called “Spy Wednesday.” The day begins with Jesus being anointed with pure nard, and Judas complaining that the money could have been spent on the poor. We question his motives. For much of Jesus ministry those who opposed Him watched him closely, and during Holy Week they also sent emissaries are spies, who would later testify at his sham trial Good Friday morning. Judas, who had apparently made himself available to be treasurer, had regularly pilfered from the bank account. “Money is the root of all sorts of evil.” (I Tim. 6:10). We later see that when Ananias and Sapphira, had mutually decided to lie to the Holy Spirit, they were confronted by St. Peter who said to them, “Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?” (Acts 5:4b) Peter clearly lays the blame for their greed, in their own “conception.” Earlier in His ministry Jesus said that evil comes “out of the heart.” (Matthew 15:19)

Jesus in the Parable of the Sower said that in some instances, “the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart…” (Matthew 13:19) John would talk about the influence that a cold and selfish heart “closes the heart against a brother.” (I John 3:17). Peter would describe that greed is something that can be practiced and “trained” in the heart (II Peter 2:14). The writer of Hebrews would say that “it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace…” (Hebrews 13:9)

So by the time that we arrive at Maundy Thursday, and read the way John describes how Satan “having already put into the heart” the idea to betray Jesus – we see that there has been a discordant orchestration of evil being composed and practiced for some time, including: the heart of Judas and all the disciples being initially evil, Jesus sowing good seed of good news in the heart of Judas, the soil of his soul being saturated with greed, training him to be greedy not graceful, conceiving the idea of short-term evil and selfishness (“What will you give me in order to deliver Him to you?” Matthew 26:15), so that after filling his belly with sacrificial lamb on Passover Thursday, he would choose to skip prayer in Gethsemane, and instead betray Jesus…  and thereby purchase a field called “Field of Blood.”

Remember the lowly basophil from an earlier devo? The basophil and its small cohort of companions in our blood serve a cohort of defenders. Various white blood cells (in the vast minority of blood cells), are positioned both in the bloodstream and in surrounding tissue as sentinels that recognize evil, isolate it, and ultimately are designed to rally the troops to destroy the invader. Jesus would tell his disciples in the garden to “Watch and pray.” Peter, who by God’s grace repentant, and was restored and forgiven by Jesus, would in his wiser days write these words: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” (I Peter 5:8,9a) Judas long before this Wednesday, had acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Being alert, being willing to resist and stand firm in faith, are behaviors that are expected of all of us. Like Peter we are seasoned veterans at failure, but with maturity, we learn to watch and pray, and join with Christ in defending the faith and standing for truth. Vaccines are ultimately vigilance against viruses.