Sharing Love, Seeking Justice: Wednesday in Holy Week

April 16, 2025

Welcome to our 2025 series of Holy Week devotionals, a gift from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, eight days of devotions leading to the Feast of the Resurrection.

Wednesday in Holy Week

Witnessing

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls or lose heart. _{Hebrews 12:1-3, NRSV}

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining close to his heart; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. _{John 13:21-29, NRSV}

Being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses isn’t always all it is cracked up to be. There were Jesus and Judas, surrounded by the other apostles and anybody else in the upper room that night. Jesus had been telling them all for weeks what was going to happen. Jesus told them that he would be betrayed by the one to whom he gave the bread, and then he did it, right in front of them all, and they didn’t make the connection. They were the cloud of witnesses, yet they didn’t see, and Judas gave up on running the race where everything is given up for new life. And then it was night. Darkness fell on the world because good people couldn’t bring themselves to see.

Darkness falls upon the world because people can’t bring themselves to see. We can’t bring ourselves to see how our buying and selling, our desire to save a bit of money, traps people in sweatshops half a world away. We can’t see how our desire for inexpensive fresh fruit feeds into a system that oppresses workers whom we depend on yet never notice. We don’t see how the great orators making good trouble while standing up to people recklessly threatening our democracy lose their moral authority when they silently acquiesce to the bombing into extinction of people who aren’t in their voting constituency and who happen to be caught between the terrorists and the zealots. We don’t see, and they fall short of who they can be. And we fall deeper into night.

But Jesus stood faithful through the darkness, then stretched his arms out on a tree to draw all the world in and die for us. Jesus stands through the darkness, and stands with us, and helps us to see what is really going on. All we have to do is keep on watching, never looking away, never growing weary in our souls or losing heart. Cheering each other on to run the race.

– James Hart Brumm
   Director of the Reformed Church Center and the Theological Writing Center
   Assistant Professor of Reformed Church Studies

Prayer:
              God of light:
              help us keep running the race as the darkness grows,
              help us be clear-eyed witnesses to what is truly there
              so we can cheer one another on toward greater good,
              seeing the way toward justice for everyone.
              As your Christ draws the world to himself,
              help us lift our crosses and proclaim your love and justice.