Matthew 26: 14 - 16
Matthew 26: 20 - 25
Matthew 26: 47 - 50
Matthew 27: 3 - 10
What happened to this man? I think he began his walk with Jesus as a disciple full of hope and promise and possibility. We all begin our faith walks there. Listen to the words Mark chose when he described the calling of the twelve:
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve - designating them apostles - that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. (Mark 3: 13 - 15)
Mark then lists the twelve ... and Judas is there. What caused him to turn? What was in his head? His heart? Was it disillusionment? Was it greed? Was it hate? Was it bitterness? We don't know for certain. And all of these possibilities have been proposed by people trying to understand how people turn.
I don't think it was greed. After all, 30 pieces of silver represented a little less than 6 months wage for a working man. That's not much!
I think perhaps Judas was so disappointed that Jesus was not whom Judas expected him to be. Judas was ready for the overthrow of the Roman occupation ... all Jews were ... and for the freedom of Israel and the Jews. I think perhaps Judas thought Jesus was the man. And as he saw more of His power ... he couldn't wait for that power to be unleashed against Rome! But it didn't happen. Not only was Jesus not mounting an offensive against Rome, he was now talking about crucifixion?! In his lack of understanding, I think Judas took matters into his own hands and decided to force the issue ... force Jesus into action. He wanted to change Jesus.
Ever been guilty of that desire - the desire to mold Jesus into what YOU want - the desire to have Jesus do what YOU think is best to do - to make YOUR life what you want? Ever wanted to USE Jesus for your own purposes? Political? Personal? Those are all Judas traits. We take Jesus totally on his own terms ... or we do not take him at all.
Another observation that fascinates me about the whole Judas ordeal is that Jesus wants him to know that HE knows. Was it a last appeal? Was it the last effort to make him reconsider the path he was choosing? But Jesus did not, would not, stop him. I am amazed at our God's respect for human free will. He will not violate it. He will not take it from you.
Then there is this kiss. In 26:48 we read that Judas told the mob who came to get Jesus that he would identify him with a kiss. The Greek word used is philein - the normal word for kiss. But then in verse 49 when Judas actually kisses Jesus, the word is a different one. Here the word kataphilein is used, intensifying the meaning. Kataphilein means to kiss repeatedly and fervently. Why the change in language? If Judas had come in bitterness and hatred ... there would have been no kataphilein. If Judas had come in greed ... there would have been no kataphilein. Read the following from William Barclay:
It is much more likely that Judas kissed Jesus as a disciple kissed a master and meant it, and that then he stood back with expectant pride waiting on Jesus at last to act. The curious thing is that from the moment of the kiss Judas vanishes from the the scene in the garden, not to reappear until he is intent on suicide. He does not even appear as a witness at the trial of Jesus. It is far more likely that in one stunning, blinding, staggering, searing moment Judas saw how he had miscalculated and staggered away into the night, a forever broken and forever haunted man. If this is true, at that moment Judas entered the hell which he had created for himself; for the worst kind of hell is the full realization of the terrible consequences of sin.
And a hell from which Judas could not find relief. The awful sense of responsibility. So when the death sentence came down on Jesus' head ... Judas could bear it no longer ... and suicide prevailed. Had he not learned the lessons of repentance after being with Jesus those three years? Had he not seen person after person released from self-inflicted prisons of pain in the hands of Jesus? Why could he not see himself a recipient of such grace and love and forgiveness? I think he believed his sin too big ... to monumental ... to damning ... to turn back. And so death ...
Never ... never ... never ... never ... think your sin is beyond the reach of the grace of God. IT IS NOT!! It is not. It is not.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8: 1 - 2)
Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions ... (Ephesians 2:4 - 5)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
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