This day marks “Spy Wednesday,” when Judas plotted Christ’s arrest and “spied” for an opportunity to betray him.

From the vault:

Think [Judas] was the only one? Think again.

How many of us break bread with Christ on Sunday—sharing a dish, savoring his grace, experiencing his presence—only to damn him on Monday?

How many of us veer away from living the gospel as soon as it becomes too hard, too challenging, too complicated?

How many of us lose heart, lose trust, lose faith?

How many of us cling to petty disagreements, refuse to forgive, disregard those we dislike?

How many of us believe we know everything, and that everybody else knows nothing?

How many of us are convinced of our own moral superiority?

How many of us find excuses for the inexcusable, rationalize the irrational, and justify the unjustifiable?

How many of us are led into temptation, and then stick around to enjoy the view?

Surely, it is not I, is it?

Well. Yeah. It is.

Every conscious act of disloyalty to God—every sin—is, in fact, an act of betrayal. We betray everything Jesus stood for, and stood up for. We dishonor what he died for.

We become, in ways large and small, Judas.

This day, Spy Wednesday, will always be intimately linked to Judas. But it belongs to the rest of us, too. All who walk with Christ until the road gets rocky; all who falter and stumble; all who promise fidelity and then drift; all who pledge allegiance and then run and hide when the battle becomes hard or the sacrifice too great. This is humanity’s dark moment, the cloudy calm before the flashing storm, and we are all in good company—the liars, the cheaters, the adulterers, the thieves, the murderers, the mockers, and even just ordinary, mundane sinners who are guilty of the fudged truth or the snarky put down. We’re all here. Welcome to the club.

The good news in the Good News is that even when we wander away, even when we betray The One we claim to love, we are always welcomed back. We can start over. God looks for us, and waits for us. His love is limitless. His mercy is boundless. He paces the floor, waiting and watching and worrying. He will give anything to help us, to rescue us, to see us saved.

And the next three days will prove that.