LETTER FROM KATIE • April 1, 2026

Nikolai Ge (Russian, 1831 – 1894), Conscience: Judas, 1891 oil on canvas - 58.6 in x 82.6 in

Dear Holy Comforter,

One of the most arresting moments of Palm Sunday is when we cry out, “Crucify him!” and acknowledge that we are not only the ones Jesus comes to save, but also, in our own ways, the ones who help drive the nails. We are both recipients of his mercy and participants in the world’s sin—caught up in patterns we cannot fully untangle, and desperately in need of God’s rescue.

We see that painful entanglement in Matthew’s account of Judas. He betrays Jesus with a kiss, and almost immediately regret floods in. He returns the silver and cries out that he has “betrayed innocent blood.” But the religious leaders respond with chilling indifference: “What is that to us? That’s your responsibility.”

Wednesday of Holy Week is sometimes called Spy Wednesday, because the lectionary readings invite us to sit again with Judas’ betrayal and to contemplate the ways we betray Christ and each other. And yet even here, Jesus’ love does not shrink back. The Lord is “patient…not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Even Judas—even we—are not beyond the reach of Christ’s mercy.

As we continue through this holy and sobering week, I invite you to make space each day to read the lectionary readings and pray the collect of the day. You might also place yourself in the scenes: at the table, watching Judas leave; in the shock of betrayal and abandonment; and in the humbling moment when Jesus kneels to wash feet—even the feet of the one who will hand him over.

Below is George Marion McClellan’s meditation on Jesus’ love for Judas.

The Feet of Judas

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
The dark and evil passions of his soul,
His secret plot, and sordidness complete,
His hate, his purposing, Christ knew the whole.
And still in love he stooped and washed his feet.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
Yet all his lurking sin was bare to him,
His bargain with the priest, and more than this,
In Olivet, beneath the moonlight dim,
Aforehand knew and felt his treacherous kiss.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
And so ineffable his love ’twas meet,
That pity fill his great forgiving heart,
And tenderly to wash the traitor’s feet,
Who in his Lord had basely sold his part.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
And thus a girded servant, self-abased,
Taught that no wrong this side the gate of heaven
Was ever too great to wholly be effaced,
And though unasked, in spirit be forgiven.

And so if we have ever felt the wrong
Of Trampled rights, of caste, it matters not,
What e’er the soul has felt or suffered long,
Oh, heart! this one thing should not be forgot:
Christ washed the feet of Judas.

May we who walk the way of the cross this Holy Week, find it none other than the way of life and peace.

Love,
Katie