There isn’t a great deal recorded in Scripture about what happened on Wednesday of Easter week, but what is recorded is significant.
“Then the chief priests and the elders of the people met together in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. They planned to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, so that there won’t be a riot among the people.”
(Matthew 26.3-5, NET)
“Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.”
(Mark 14.1-2, NET)
“Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find some way to execute Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.”
(Luke 22.1-2, NET)
Not much recorded by way of controversial conversations between Jesus and others (as in Mark 11.28, for example) but significant in that we see that it was now becoming pretty clear that Jesus’ death was actively being sought.
Those seeking His death were powerful enemies to have: the chief priests…the elders of the people…the high priest…experts in the law…It seems that Jesus had alienated those people who should, in theory at least, have been the first to recognise who He was and what He was about. Feeling secure in their particular positions of power they agree to bide their time (“Not during the feast…”) and wait until the crowds start to disperse.
By Wednesday of Easter week then, the verdict was in: Jesus was going to be put to death. In the meantime it seems that Jesus was sticking to the plan (Luke 21.37-38). As we continue with our daily business this next few days, consider that on this day all those years ago Jesus had, essentially, already been condemned to death.
James Travis 