What Happened on the Day "Nothing Happened"

When we remember the birth of Christ we meditate on a silent night, and here as we remember His death we come upon a silent day, a day with scarcely a mention in Scripture, a day when virtually “nothing happened.”

In contrast to the high profile activity of Tuesday, Wednesday is the quietest day of Passion Week. However, spiritual forces are no less at work.  While stillness occupies the earth, that which is going on in the heavenlies must be feverish.  It is as though intermission has descended upon Passion Week—the curtain has drawn and nothing happens in the gallery while backstage all hands scurry to get everything in place.

It is certainly a good reminder that we never know what spiritual activity may be swirling around us regardless of how routine our circumstances may be.  “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  Like Job, we never know when we may be starring in God’s theater-in-the-round, surrounded by the angelic host who would either accuse us for our failure or worship for our faithfulness.

Yet this is not a day of complete inactivity as the hearts of men are always in motion for good or evil.  That is certainly the case for Judas where it is fatefully the latter.  Today he makes his final decision to betray Jesus, a decision which no doubt came on the heels of the yesterday’s confrontations.  There would be no joint effort between Jesus and the Jewish leadership to establish the Messiah’s rule now.  

True, he had seen tension between them before and even severe tension at that.  But with the thrill of Sunday and the crowd shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David,” perhaps Messianic fever would sweep Jerusalem.  Perhaps there could be a reconciliation where old enemies could become new friends and achieve the unity needed to overthrow the Romans.  Hope indeed seemed to spring eternal.

But something else eternal had been scripted on Judas’ heart, a heart with no heart for God.  He had followed Jesus from selfish ambition and now God was squeezing out that reality.  “I, the Lord, search the heart.  I test the mind…” (Jeremiah 17:10).  The clashes of Monday and Tuesday would kill whatever passion Judas still harbored.  Any hope of reconciliation was lost.  So was the cause.

Judas had given three years to follow Jesus and Jesus had disappointed him.  It was a bitter finale.  Jesus wouldn’t bring in the kingdom.  There would be no earthly glory, no applause from the nation.  And on a day when “nothing happened,” Judas made the decision that would seal his destiny.

What dwells in your heart on your “nothing” days?  What performance might you be giving to the angelic world?  Is it some form of sin or rebellion that needs to be addressed?  Is it indifference to the things of God?  Fixation on the cares of the world?  

Or is it worship, “singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19)?  Is it praising God, even through tears, because “momentary, light affliction is producing an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comprehension, while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen…the things which are…eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)?

How deeply do you consider the spiritual forces around you when no one else is watching?