Anatomy Of Betrayal

IV. Why did Judas betray Jesus

Obviously this was part of the plan of salvation for Judas to betray Jesus. That is the first and primary reason it happened.

But as crime scene investigators, motive is a key fact in proving the guilt of a suspect, so we need to uncover all of the details, so lets look a little deeper into Judas’ motivations

When I was in the military I attended a seminar on people who defect to the United States, and the intelligence officer who gave the briefing said that people betray their native country for 3 reasons-

Money, Ego, Conscience- and they have several subfactors, but we will just focus on these three factors.

Because, people also betray people for the same reasons, so lets apply that to Judas

A. Money or Greed

Judas did it for the money. 30 pieces of silver would be about 2-3 months common laborer’s wages in Jesus’ day, so it was a nice chunk of change, and we know from the Gospel of John that Judas was very greedy.

It was probably a small factor, but I don’t think that’s the real reason.

Judas was most likely one of the more educated and independently wealthy of the disciples, so 30 pieces of silver would be a fairly small sum for him, what most of us would carry in cash on our person’s today.

The ironic thing is that this price that was paid for Jesus was the exact cost to redeem a slave. If a slave wanted his or her freedom, either they or someone else could purchase it for 30 pieces of silver.

In essence, Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver to identify with humanity being a slave to sin so that He could give us freedom through his suffering, death, and resurrection.

So if it wasn’t only money or greed, then was it-

B. Ego or Jealousy

Was Judas jealous of Peter, James, and John’s relationship with Jesus.

If Judas was so trusted he handled the money and yet never got to be one of the inner circle, was that is motivation?

Remember within this same week, James and John got their mother to ask Jesus for a favor- that when HE came into His Kingdom they could sit on the right and left side of HIM in thrones of their own, and that request became public, and the bible says, “The other disciples were indignant”

Ya think? One of the biggest understatements of the bible

Do I think this was the motive for betrayal?

Partially, but it has it’s roots in the last possibility, and that is-

C. Conscience manifesting itself in Jewish Nationalism

Did Judas betray Jesus to save his country? Did Judas think he was doing Jesus a favor by pushing Him into seizing power in Jerusalem, which would eventually lead to Rome being driven out and Israel restored to it’s former glory.

Remember this was the 1st century Jewish expectation of who the Messiah was to be and was to do- a great military general and king every single disciple believed that when Jesus spoke of the Kingdom, he was referring to an earthly kingdom that HE would reign and rule over, and the disciples would be his viceroy’s and rule with Him.

Remember also that Jesus’ followers included at least one zealot- Simon.