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The Sanhedrin Plots Against Jesus

"Spy" Wednesday

The first three days of Holy Week were filled with important and dramatic events.  On Sunday, Jesus made a triumphant entry into Jerusalem.   On Monday, he cleansed the temple.  On Tuesday, he taught at the temple and was confronted by trick questions from the temple priests. On Wednesday, April 1, 33 C.E. the conspiracy to be rid of Jesus was finalized, with the help of Jesus' own disciple Judas.

Jesus was staying at the home of Simon in Bethany. On Wednesday he returned to the temple to preach. A crowd gathered but there was no confrontation like there had been the day before. The temple priests are busy plotting behind the scenes.

Caiaphas, the high priest, invited the Sanhedrin (the Jewish high council) to his home to discuss how to get rid of Jesus. They all agreed that Jesus was a threat.  At first, they decided to wait until after the Passover feast. They were afraid that the followers of Jesus who had gathered in Jerusalem for Passover would interfere with their plans.  They thought it would avoid a confrontation if they created an excuse to get rid of Jesus after the week was over. That plan changed .....

Mary, sister of Martha, purchased a very expensive sweet-smelling oil to use to anoint Jesus. While Jesus and the disciples were eating on Wednesday night, she poured it on his head. Jesus was honored, but the disciples were  upset by what they thought was a waste of money. 

Judas was in charge of managing the money for Jesus and the disciples. He said that the money spent on the anointing oil could have supported a family for more than a year and that would have been a better use of the money.  Jesus disagreed. He already knew what was going to happen, and said that Mary was preparing him for his burial.

The Bible says Judas' concern had nothing to do with helping poor people - he just wanted to keep some of that money for himself.  Whatever the reason, Judas was so angry he went to the chief priests and, for thirty pieces of silver (the amount of money that Exodus said was the price of the life of a slave) he agreed to betray Jesus.  Judas became a traitor and a spy.  He agreed to wait until there were no crowds around to interfere. He would tell Caiaphas, who would then call in the soldiers to arrest Jesus.

The plot was hatched, the plan was in place.  The conspirators now just had to wait to receive word from Judas....

April 2019
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