Holy Wednesday

- Jesus gives Judas the gimlet eye in Jesus of Nazareth

Holy Wednesday ...

In the New Testament account of Holy Week, after Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin gathered and plotted to kill Jesus before the feast of Pesach. On the Wednesday before his death, Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. As he sat at the supper table with his disciples, a woman named Mary anointed Jesus' head and feet with a costly oil of spikenard. The disciples were indignant, asking why the oil was not instead sold and the money given to the poor. But Judas Iscariot wanted to keep the money for himself. Then Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered to deliver Jesus to them in exchange for money. From this moment on, Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.

So many questions. Did Judas really do this? Why? Did Jesus know beforehand? If so, why did he choose Judas as a disciple, why didn't he stop him, was Judas needed as the bad guy, was it fair to use him as an object lesson? Don't know the answers, but as I read The Last Jedi, I think of Luke Skywalker and his apprentice, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, who he knew would probably betray him but who he took on anyway in order to save.