After Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, his cleansing of the temple on Holy Monday, and his confrontation with chief priests and elders on Holy Tuesday, He was a marked man.

Caiphas, the high priest, and the other chief scribes and elders had already made up their minds to kill Jesus, though they feared acting openly, due to His support among the people.

The instrument of His destruction would be one of His own, a spy among the apostles – Judas Iscariot.

THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER.

Judas, having been entered by Satan, according to the Gospel of Luke, would give them their proverbial man on the inside. He had already been angry with Jesus, after Mary of Bethany – the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead – anointed Him with expensive oil at dinner.

“Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Judas demanded. St. John tells us his concern was not really for the poor, however, but for himself, “because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.”

Jesus rebuked him and predicted His coming death: “Let her alone,” he said. “She has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

It was after this that Judas went to the priests and the officers of the temple guard, seeking another way to get his money.

“What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” Judas asked. They counted out thirty pieces of silver – a miserly sum, even in Biblical times, but enough for Judas to betray his master.

The betrayal was not long in coming; Caiphas would have his way on Thursday, when we the apostles held their Last Supper.