The Journey to the Garden of Gethsemane:
Holy Wednesday (Matthew 26):
◼️ Holy Wednesday, or Spy Wednesday, is traditionally a day of remembering when Judas plotted with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. It is not known exactly what occurred on this day, but the chief priests and scribes continued to plan Jesus’ death while Jesus reminded His disciples that He would be crucified on the Passover in two days.
◼️ At Simon’s house in Bethany, a woman with a jar of ointment anointed Jesus’ head, to which some of His followers were indigent about the cost. Jesus told His disciples that this was preparation for His upcoming burial.
(More accounts of Holy Wednesday can be read in Mark 14:1-11 and Luke 22:1-6)
Holy Thursday (John 13, Mark 14):
◼️ Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, marks the day Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Last Supper; the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood; and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
◼️ Jesus and his apostles entered Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, eating together in the Upper Room. At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist with the familiar words we hear every Mass during the consecration: “This is my body,” and “This is my blood.” In charging His apostles with the responsibility to continue this in His memory, Jesus established the sacrament of the priesthood that evening.
◼️ Following the Passover meal, Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane, taking Peter, James, and John further in while He went to pray. Jesus prayed to the Father that the cup before Him might pass, but His will be done. Three times Jesus went off alone, and three times His apostles fell asleep even after He urged them to pray for their own strength.
◼️ Judas then brought a crowd of chief priests, scribes, and elders, and greeted Jesus with a kiss. Jesus was arrested and led off to the Sanhedrin for a trial that was conducted secretly in the night. After false witnesses and contradictory accounts, Jesus told the elders that He was the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power of God. The High Priest deemed Jesus worthy of death, Peter denied Jesus three times, and the crowds that days ago welcomed Him with celebration now joined in striking and mocking Him.
(Holy Thursday's events are further recorded in Matthew 26:17–75, Mark 14:12-72, Luke 22:7-23:17, and John 13-18.)
