Holy Week Wednesday Meditation "Face Like Flint"

 Tomorrow it begins in earnest. Wednesday is the last day of waiting, of planning, of summoning courageous faith. Today then, is a day of crafting the words that will begin the end.

 The morning begins using prayer and praise to find strength as Jesus’ body displays the usual signs of nervous anxiety. “I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!” (Read Psalm 70)

 By the time his prayers are finished, as the sun rises on his last Wednesday in this pre-glorified body, Jesus has heard the Father speak. So, he declares, “The LORD God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame….It is the LORD God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?”  (Read Isaiah 50:4-9)

 There is no verdict which the Roman government nor the religious leaders can now give which will overcome the confident knowledge which Jesus’ flint-faced determination reveals: he is the innocent Lamb, carrying out the Father’s perfect will. Jesus is now ready, mind, body, and spirit, to finish the task of being the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame.” (Read Hebrews 12:1-3)

 How then shall he begin the final chapter? What words will he use to release Judas from the table at which he will eat his last supper with his friends? Jesus knows what Judas is plotting. He knows that if he allows the plot to succeed, he will surely die, and quickly.

 Simplest is best. Let Judas know that he knows; “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me….It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, Jesus plans, he will quietly hand his friend the damning evidence, the piece of bread, while looking him straight in the eye,  “Do quickly what you are going to do.” (Read John 13:21-32)

 Yes, that will do. That is how it will begin. His face like flint, his faith like a rock, he sleeps well. One last night.