Judas Iscariot And Mary Of Bethany

Jn 12:1-8

Story: A Quaker once posted a sign on one of the choicest fields of his farm.

It stated,

"This land will be given to the first truly satisfied person who passes this way" .

He no sooner arrived back at his house than a man knocked at his door.

“Sir," he said, "I just saw your sign and I want you to know that I am a completely satisfied man.

I have a devoted family, a successful business, financial security for the future and I am in excellent health."

The old Quaker looked his visitor over very carefully and then said

"Pray tell me, friend, if thou art a completely satisfied man, why dost thou want my land?"

Introduction

There are a number of villains in Scripture, that I can think of

i) Cain who murdered his brother Abel,

ii) Jezebel who had Naboth murdered,

iii) King Manasseh who it is believed had the prophet Isaiah sawn in two, as well as killing many Yahweh worshippers and leading Israel astray

iv) Herod the Great who murdered all the children 2 years old or under in Bethlehem

But the top spot in villainy in the Bible goes to

Judas Iscariot

who betrayed his great friend Jesus which leading to the horrific death of a Crucifixion.

This morning’s Gospel reading is basically about 2 characters Judas Iscariot and Mary of Bethany

And had you asked Judas and Mary if they were satisfied simply with being in Jesus’s presence, you would have got two totally different answers.

But let’s start with

1. What do we know about Judas

1.1 Who was Judas?

He is known as Judas Iscariot

Some scholars think that the name Iscariot comes from a corruption of the Latin word sicarius meaning “dagger man”

If Iscariot is derived from sicarius, then Judas was a member of a terrorist group called the Sicarii.

The Sicarii was a group of rebels who were known for committing acts of terror by assassinating people in crowds with long knives hidden under their cloak.

They would happily walk up to a Roman soldier and stab him in the back.

If Judas was a member of the Sicarii, that would explain for me why he betrayed Jesus.

Judas wanted Jesus through his popularity to lead a rebellion to throw the Romans out.

And there was a precedence for this

In 167 BC, Judas Maccabeus had led an uprising against the Seleucid King Antiochus IV king of Syria who was ruling Judea at the time.

The Jewish uprising was so successful that Judas Maccabeus overthrew Antiochus in Judea and established the Hasmonean Kingdom that lasted for about 100 years.

That would fit in well with the popular idea in Judea at the time of Jesus that the Messiah would be a Judas Maccabeus style figure – freeing Israel from the oppressors -the Romans.

But whatever is true about Judas’s name it is clear that Judas wanted to get Jesus to throw the Romans out.

Another suggestion is that the name Iscariot is derived from the Latin scortea meaning “leather bag” which Judas as treasurer would have carried

John tells us that Judas was the treasurer for the disciples and he was also a thief.

St Paul warns Christians in 1 Tim 6 verse 10 that

10 …. the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Is that what happened to Judas?

Comment: I have often wondered why Judas’s remorse was different to Peter’s regret.

After all, you could say both betrayed Jesus?

And why Judas was offered no chance of repentance, whereas after the Resurrection , Peter was given a second chance

And the key to me seems to be in the attitude of Judas and Peter.

1. Judas actively set out to betray his friend.

I think his motive was to get Jesus to do what he wanted.

I think he betrayed Jesus to force Jesus’ hand

2. On the other hand Peter doesn’t set out to betray Jesus, to get his own way but simply through fear denied Jesus.

The attitudes of Judas and Peter are different

And Judas’ decision to betray Jesus had a serious effect on the events in Holy Week a real “Sherlock Holmes style mystery” – but I will look at that next week

But I would like to contrast the attitudes of Judas with that of Mary of Bethany today.

2, What do we know about Mary of Bethany

Mary of Bethany was the sister of Lazarus and also the sister of Martha .

She is unlikely to be the same Mary of Magdalene, since Bethany is Judea and Magdala, the region from which Mary Magdalene came is in the region of Galilee