Preparing For Easter: Judas Iscariot, The Traitor

(Based on a message preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO on April 2, 2023; this is not an exact transcription. )

Full disclosure: Sermon Central added a sermon of mine based on this topic called “Judas: The Tale of a Traitor” back in January 2020. That message was based on a sermon I preached back in 2016 at a previous pastorate. This new message has some of the same texts but is not a “copy and paste” of the first message. May we always be true to our Lord and never be a traitor like Judas.

Introduction: Traitors. These people have existed for many years, and America, our nation, is no different. Benedict Arnold is probably the best known of American traitors, leaving his position in the Colonial army and joining the British army. Norway had a man named Quisling who helped the Germans during World War 2. But one of the worst ever was Judas Iscariot, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Most of the text for today’s message comes from Matthew 26 and 27 and another verse or two. The text begins at Matthew 26, verse 1:

Text, Matthew 26:1-16, NASV: 1 When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.” 3 At that time the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest named Caiaphas; 4 and they plotted together to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him. 5 But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.”

6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume, and she poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table. 8 But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering the woman? For she has done a good deed for Me. 11 For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 12 For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. 13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from then on he looked for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.

1 Judas was a disciple

The Scriptures don’t tell us much about Judas except his last name, Iscariot, and his father’s name, Simon. But what our Lord did allow to be told about Judas should always make us think. I mean, he was one of the Twelve Apostles, one of a handful of people in history who had the privileges he did. Think about it: he heard nearly everything Jesus said, he saw nearly everything Jesus did, and even went on a tour of Israel preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 10) but even all of this was not enough for Judas to believe.

Oddly enough, Judas was chosen (elected by the others?) to be treasurer of the group. John says he “had the bag”, meaning the treasurer, and “bare” or took for himself some, if not most, of the money. I’m reminded, every time I read this, about how my children and I would play the Monopoly ™ game when they were younger. My daughter, back when she was in sixth grade or so, always wanted to be the banker! Well, I thought, boy or girl, everybody needs to know how to handle money so, no problem, right? Ah, but there’s the rub: after a few turns, I noticed there were a whole lot of $500 bills—highest dollar amount in Monopoly ™--near her, and few remaining in the till! I asked her, ah, you haven’t bought or sold much real estate, so how did you get so rich? She giggled, and said, “Well, I have such an important job, as banker, so I gave myself a bonus!”

Now, that might work in Monopoly ™ but not so much in real life! In fact, that kind of “creative accounting” could land anyone practicing this in a very small room for a very long time! The ‘crossbar hotel” is not exactly the kind of place I’d wish on anybody! Judas, though, didn’t seem to be focused on much of anything except money—I mean, of all the times in the Gospels that he’s quoted, most of his words revolve around money.