Holy Week: Holy Wednesday

Holy Wednesday holds two stories side by side: extravagant worship and quiet betrayal. In this episode of From the Well to the World, Pastor Dee and Bernie walk through Matthew 26:1–16, where an unnamed woman pours out costly perfume on Jesus while Judas slips into the shadows to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver. Together we’ll ask the heart‑searching question this day confronts us with: Am I offering Jesus my best—or trading Him for something less? Listen in, and invite the Lord to form in you a devotion that is unashamed, wholehearted, and true. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2532509

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever noticed that the human heart is capable of incredible beauty and devastating betrayal? In the very same moment, Holy Wednesday places those two realities side by side: devotion and betrayal, worship and treachery, forcing us to ask, what does my response to Jesus really reveal about me?

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Shall we go to our Bible? Turn to Matthew 26, verses 1 through 16. When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified. At that same time the leading priest and elders were meeting at the resident of Caiaphas, the high priest, plotting how to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. But not during the Passover celebration, they agreed, or the people may riot. Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. The disciples were indignant when they saw this. What a waste, they said. It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, replied, Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the good news is preached and throughout the world this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priest and asked, How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you? And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. Our key passage today is Matthew 26, 1 through 16, where all of this unfolds. Jesus announces his approaching crucifixion. The religious leaders secretly plot his arrest. A woman anoints him with costly perfume, and Judas agrees to betray him for 30 pieces of silver. This entire spiritual drama happens within the same passage and maybe even within the same day. Holy Wednesday begins with beauty. At the home of Simon the Leper, an unnamed woman enters the room carrying an alabaster flask, a very expensive perfume, and without hesitation, without shame, she breaks it open and pours it over Jesus' head. And Jesus says, She has done a beautiful thing to me. She sees what others miss. She recognizes that Jesus is going to die. Her devotion is not calculated, it's costly, and her worship is not convenient. It's extravagant. This woman becomes a prophetic witness. In pouring out the perfume, she anoints him for the burial before the cross ever touches his shoulders. Jesus promised and Jesus promises that her act will be remembered wherever the gospel is preached. Two thousand years later, we are still talking about her.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

But Matthew doesn't let us stay with the beauty for long. Right after the act of worship, the scene shifts. Judas goes to the chief priest and asks one chilling question. Where the woman gives her best, Judah gives Jesus away. Where she honors him, he betrays him. Where she breaks a jar of perfume, he breaks fellowship with the Son of God. And the heartbreaking truth is that both responses exist in the world today, and sometimes in the same person. This is why Holy Wednesday is often called Spy Wednesday, the day Jesus moves into the shadows. In the Eastern Church, today is Great and Holy Wednesday, a day centered on a woman's act of devotion. Two names, two stories, two paths, and every follower of Jesus must choose which story their life echoes.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Holy Wednesday invites us to pause and ask, what am I offering Jesus today? Am I giving him my whole heart or my leftovers? Am I worshiping him with sacrifice or betraying him with compromise? Am I driven by love or by self-interest? The woman poured out everything she had. Judas sold Jesus for far too little. And these two choices still sit before us. Holy Wednesday teaches us that worship is measured not by the price of the perfume, but by the posture of the heart.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Today, let's ask Jesus to expose anything in us that resembles Judas, the hidden motives, the quiet betrayals, the moments when we choose convenience over obedience. And let's ask Him to fill us with the same love that moved that woman to worship with abandon. Christ is worthy of nothing less.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Shall we pray, Heavenly Father, on this Holy Wednesday, search our heart, reveal anything in us that compromises our love for you, strip away self-interest, hidden sin, and divided loyalty, and fill us with a kind of devotion that pours everything at your feet. Give us the courage to choose sacrificial obedience over convenience and love over betrayal. Make our lives a reflection of the woman who honored you so beautifully. As we move towards the cross, anchor us in gratitude, humility, and worship. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Shalom.