While the scriptures don’t specify what exactly Jesus Christ did on Holy Wednesday, some religious scholars suggest it was a day of rest in preparation for the Passover while others remember it as the day when Judas agreed to betray Christ.
Passover is an 8-day Jewish commemoration of when the Israelites were freed from slavery in ancient Egypt. The first day of Passover begins with the first Seder just after nightfall. The first Seder is what would become known as the last Supper on Thursday of Holy Week. While Christ and His disciples were planning for the feast that would take place at the first Seder, they were also preparing for the impending betrayal and crucifixion of Christ.
Holy Wednesday is also known as Spy Wednesday, the day that Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, made the decision to betray Christ for money.
“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,” Matthew 26:14-16 sates. “And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.”
Some also recognize Holy Wednesday as the day that Christ raises Lazarus from death. While still ministering among the people in Bethany, Christ learns that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and her sister Martha, is sick. Knowing that Lazarus’s illness was meant as a means by which He must manifest His power, Christ waited until four days after the death of Lazarus to go visit Mary and Martha.
Once He reached the sisters, they questioned why He hadn’t come sooner and wept for the loss of their brother. The scriptures describe that Christ wept with them. Mary and Martha then took Christ to Lazarus’s grave where Christ prayed to the Father and commanded Lazarus to come forth out of his tomb and immediately he rose from the tomb.
“I am the resurrection, and the life,” taught Christ in John 11:25-26. “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
The healing and resurrection of Lazarus may be considered foreshadowing for what would happen to Christ in the latter half of Holy Week when He would die upon the cross and be resurrected from the tomb three days later.
Holy Wednesday can be considered a day of mental and physical preparation for the suffering He would endure before His betrayal and death. Still, many Christians choose to remember the miracles brought by faith in Christ that were performed during this sacred time.