CLICK HERE For FREE RESOURCE: Hope is Alive: A Devotional Journey through Holy Week!

The action leading up to the cross continues today. Many call this “Spy Wednesday” because it’s the day Judas made a deal to betray Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16). While Jesus was teaching in the temple, the religious leaders were growing more desperate. They wanted Him gone—but they needed a way to do it quietly. And Judas, one of Jesus’ own disciples, gave them that opportunity.

But Wednesday isn’t just about betrayal. It’s also about devotion. While Judas was plotting, a woman—identified in John’s Gospel as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus—was pouring out a costly, extravagant love at the feet of Jesus.

Hope That Pours Out

Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper, when Mary came in with an alabaster jar filled with pure nard, an expensive perfume. Without hesitation, she broke the jar and poured it over His head, anointing Him in an act of absolute worship (Mark 14:3).

The disciples, especially Judas, were indignant. “Why this waste?” they said. “This perfume could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor” (Mark 14:4-5).

But Jesus defended her.

“She has done a beautiful thing to me. … She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.” — Mark 14:6-8

Mary understood something the others didn’t—Jesus was about to die. And instead of holding back, she poured everything out for Him.

Hope That Waits in the Tension

Wednesday of Holy Week sits in an uncomfortable place—it’s the calm before the storm. The cross is coming. The betrayal is near. And yet, in the midst of the tension, Mary chose to worship.

We don’t like waiting seasons, do we? When we don’t see the outcome yet, when we know something hard is coming, it’s easy to feel restless, afraid, or even hopeless.

But Holy Wednesday reminds us: Hope isn’t just for the big, miraculous moments. Hope is for the in-between. The waiting. The unknown. The quiet moments when we choose to worship Jesus, even when we don’t have all the answers.

Hope That Chooses Jesus

Judas and Mary both had choices that day. Judas chose silver. Mary chose surrender.

Judas saw Jesus as a means to an end. Mary saw Him as the end itself—the only One worthy of everything she had to give.

And we have that same choice. Every day, we can either hold back, clinging to the temporary things of this world, or we can pour everything out in faith, trusting that Jesus is worth it.

Walking in Hope Today

Today is a day of quiet decisions. A day to pour out our love, our trust, our devotion—even in the waiting.

Because hope isn’t just in the victory of Sunday. It’s in the surrender of Wednesday, too.

Thanks for reading.