Judas, The Betrayer
The point of Judas’ life is that each and every one of us does have choices to make. It’s always been a popular idea to give your child a biblical name. Some of the most popular biblical names are those of the disciples. Think about: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Phillip, Thomas, Matthew. I bet we all know a Simon, and probably even a Thaddeus and a Bart. But how many Judases do you know? How many social situations have you been in where that name comes up? No one names their child Judas these days, because that name is associated with one of the most reviled characters in all of history, Judas Iscariot. Betrayer. Do you know what it is to be betrayed?
Betrayal is a profound word loaded with volatile and emotional implications. Betrayal means disloyalty and treachery have been used to expose you to an enemy, to expose you to harm, or simply just to expose you. What you thought was protected and safe is now open and dangerous. It means someone has been unfaithful with something that you have entrusted to them. It means confidences have been disclosed and that you have been deceived, duped, and deserted. The betrayer is vile, wicked and evil. The psychological impact on the one betrayed is usually permanent to some degree, depending on the kind and type of trust betrayed and the damage done by the betrayal.Ever been betrayed?Ever been a betrayer? The relationship that Jesus and Judas Iscariot had was unique in all of human history. His name, Judas, means either “one to be praised”, or “Jehovah leads.” Many men were named Judas in Jesus’ day. I don’t think anyone has been named Judas since time. Judas Iscariot -- Iscariot is not his last name. The word Iscariot is only used in the gospels to differentiate him from the other Judas, because the other Judas didn’t want to be known or associated with Judas Iscariot. So they added Iscariot to differentiate between the two because the other Judas didn’t want to be known for what Judas Iscariot did. Iscariot means, simply, man from Cariot. Cariot was a city in Judea 12 miles south of Hebron, which means Judas Iscariot was the only apostle not from Galilee. He was from Judea. Kerioth was the result of several small villages in one area coming together and forming a town. The most interesting thing to note from this is that Kerioth is outside of Galilee. Galilee is where Jesus and the other eleven disciples were from. Judas is the only outsider. As an outsider, he never really fit in. He didn’t talk the same way, he didn’t dress the same way, his view of the Jewish nation was somewhat different, and he was from an area that looked down on the Galilean Jews. Yet, there was something about Jesus that drew him. The failure of Judas had a great impact on the other eleven disciples. From the gospels to the book of Acts, all four writers were very reluctant to write much about him, they couldn’t believe that Judas one of the disciples who belonged to the inner circle of Jesus’ life would do such a thing . They did not wish to say much about him, except that Jesus foreknew Judas would betray him and his betrayal was prophesied in the Old Testament. Paul, the apostle who contributed most to the writings of the New Testament, never touched on the topic of Judas betrayal. Why? Was it that the disciples and apostle Paul felt the betrayal was something so shameful that they were not willing to say much about it? Or was it something that was so personal to them, because Judas was once their very close beloved brother, yet he had caused them much hurt, when he betrayed against the master? It can be the hurts, the confusion, the regrets, the shameful experience caused by the betrayal act that made all the disciples unwillingly to write much about the incident. Was the betrayal expected? Was the betrayal destined to happen? What was wrong with Judas that led him to the betrayal? We don’t know a lot about him. The gospels don’t tell us about how or when he was called to follow Jesus, so we can only assume it was with the same enthusiasm and vigor as the others. I doubt Judas would have begun following Jesus with the plan to betray him. He saw Jesus, he believed, and he followed, like the other disciples. We know that he was chosen to serve as the treasurer for the disciples, so he must have displayed some positive characteristics. This office is not usually given to someone thought of as greedy and irresponsible. It was a respected position and probably indicates the degree of esteem in which he was held. And yet, Judas isn’t even mentioned in Matthew’s gospel until chapter 10, and even in that first mention, he’s not labeled as the money-keeper, but as the one who betrays Jesus. Matthew 10:1-4. 1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. It is interesting to note that, whenever the lists of the disciples are given, Judas is always the last one listed. Also, every time he is mentioned, the fact of his betrayal is noted along with his name without exception. His betrayal became his identity. In fact, as we examine the gospels we see that the seeds of his betrayal were always a part of who he was.Yet, this aspect of his character was invisible to those around him. He didn’t look like he belonged on a wanted poster. He didn’t look like a weasely little con-man. He looked and acted just like the rest of the apostles. What did we learn about this disciple, Judas Iscariot? Well, to be honest, he wasn’t a bad guy. You would have really liked Judas Iscariot. He wasn’t the worst of all men that have ever lived. A lot of portraits are painted of Judas with this little eyeball sticking up and a kind of dark, sinister cast, but he was nice. It shocked the disciples to find out who it was. They had no idea; that is how nice a guy Judas was. What are some indications of how nice this guy was? Well, they were in the upper room and Jesus says, “someone is going to betray me”, and you would think now, everyone would say it is obvious,it is Judas,but nobody figured it could possibly have been Judas. Even when he gets up and leaves right after Jesus makes the prediction, it seems obvious to us. But the disciples see him as the treasurer. They concluded only two things, two reasons he could be leaving, and neither one was that he went to betray Jesus. He is going to buy some more food; or he is going to give a gift to the poor. It is not possible for Judas to betray Jesus. It did not enter their minds. He was that kind of guy. It is especially true in light of the fact that Jesus gave him in the Passover what is referred to as the “sop.” That special morsel of bread which you extend to only one person in the group, the person you deem as your friend, your special friend, that night. And if you study the seating arrangements, you notice that Judas is actually in the third position.There is John, Jesus and Judas ; and Judas is in the seat of the person of honor that night.
Apostles. Judas was just like the rest of the Twelve. But Look at what it says in John 13:21-22: “After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.”
They were surprised; they had no idea who Jesus could be speaking of. These men had lived and traveled and preached and healed and cast out demons together. They had ministered right alongside Jesus together. They had lived in the closest proximity for three and a-half years and they had no idea which of them it could be. The thought of it horrified them, and each of them feared that it might be himself that Jesus spoke of, for each of them says, “Surely, not I (Mark 14:19).” They did not know who it could be – yet, they knew by now that it could be any of them.
You could be sitting right next to a betrayer of the faith in church, at working along side them at work, or smiling at them as you pay for your groceries; you never know for sure. Outward appearance can be deceiving. Christ knows our hearts. We are to go to Him and ask Him to show us if there is a betrayer inside of us. Don’t worry about the next person –consider yourself first.
Think about this fact also. In John 13:27, Jesus turns to Judas and, after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Judas left and no one suspected anything. Verse 29 tells us, “Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the feast, " or that he should give something to the poor.’”
Jesus knew clear back in John 6:70-71, that Judas was going to betray Him, for He said, "’Did I not choose you, the Twelve? yet one of you is a devil.’ He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray Him." And yet, despite knowing this, Jesus entrusted the ministry funds to this man. He must have been more gifted than the rest, even more then Matthew. Perhaps Jesus had protected Matthew from suspicion by not choosing him to handle the money. There might have been some suspicions because he had been a greedy tax-gatherer. But, Judas came without any history and without any foreknowledge on the part of the group. He must have presented himself in a very positive manner and come across as someone to be trusted. You know the real root problem of Judas really was a spiritual condition. Why? Because Judas had one inherent problem, he committed Jesus to his life but he never committed his life to Jesus, and there is a difference. One you are a disciple, and one you are not. A lot of people commit Jesus to their life, meaning they are willing to follow Jesus as long as it improves their lives, fits in with their values, fits in with their morals, fits in with your social views, fits in with your political views but, if Jesus has a claim on these things, it is surprising how many people opt out. Have you given Jesus to your life or have you given your life to Jesus? Because when you give your life to Jesus, what you are saying is that Lord, I am tired of leading my life, in fact I have led it and it is not working.I want you to take leadership of my life and I want to learn. Teach me what I should believe, how I should live,what the values and purpose of my life are. Lord, spill that into my life and I accept it. Whatever you say, I accept it.
Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of this whole story is the foreknowledge and sovereignty of God mingled with the free choice of man. What is clear in Scriptures is that Judas really chose what he did and he bears responsibility for his choice. Judas had the same exact stimulus as all the other 11. He could easily have turned out like Peter or James or John or Thomas. He saw the same things.The burning question for me is, “Why did Judas do it?” In their gospels, Luke and John both say that Satan entered Judas and caused him to do what he did. Some might say that it was all a part of God’s plan and that Judas didn’t have a choice. But that lets Judas off the hook. Do we ever lose our free will, our ability to make our own choices? If we can excuse Judas for his actions, then it becomes easy to make the same excuses for our own. “The devil made me do it.” But , If Judas didn’t have any choice in what he did, why would he be so grieved about it that he would take his own life? Judas was one of the chosen-In Luke 6: we have one more account of the choosing of the Twelve. In Luke’s version, we find Jesus going up to the mountain and praying all night,seeking the wisdom and direction of His Father in selecting the men who would be His inner circle. , 12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
God knew; Jesus knew that one of the Twelve would be a betrayer. In Psalm 41:9, we read this prophecy: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” Zechariah 11:12-13: “Then I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter" – the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.”
Matthew records Judas’ interaction with the chief priests before and after the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26:14-16, we see that Judas is the one who approaches Jesus’ enemies, asking what they will give him to betray Jesus. The price of thirty pieces of silver is measured out and given to him. Thirty pieces of silver was the price designated by God in the Law as the restitution price to be paid the owner of a slave if that slave were to be gored by an ox. The high priests must have thought themselves quite sound in their theology by paying Judas thirty pieces of silver for Jesus. Judas accepted it, making the Messiah merely a slave to the personal greed and desires of Judas Iscariot.But when Judas realizes just what he has done, just how far he has slide down the slope of sin and destruction, he tries to give the money back. Matthew 27:1-9 ties all of this together for us. . 1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2 They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. 3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4 "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."(when Judas sold Jesus, he never expected Jesus to be condemned. He was so surprised to know that Jesus would be condemned by the religious leaders, and this was something not in his agenda when he betrayed Jesus. He never expected things would become so complicated) "What is that to us?" they replied. "That’s your responsibility." 5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners . 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me." The significant thing about all of this is that Jesus knew from the beginning that this would be the case with Judas, yet He chose him anyway!
Luke’s account of the selecting of the Twelve goes on to tell us that Jesus chose the same men mentioned in Matthew 10, and Judas is listed last as, “Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.”
I find that an interesting choice of words; “who became a traitor.” That seems to indicate that Judas wasn’t always that kind of man, any more than Benedict Arnold, the second most well-known traitor in history was. Both men were loyal and devoted followers of great leaders for a time. But, something happened in their circumstances and inside of them that turned them into something else.
For both, it seems that greed was the deciding factor. Judas probably had the constant reminder that he didn’t fit in with these backwoods-types, and he held himself somewhat aloof from them. Yet, it had to have grated on him not to be included by the others in alot of the intimacy they shared. Remember that some of them were related and that most of them knew each other prior to becoming disciples. Judas didn’t really fit in at all.If you feel like a misfit, like Judas did, then you have two choices: one, take it in stride and be faithful to where God has placed you despite the discomfort; or, two, rebel against it, become embittered, and follow a path of sin in your acting-out against your discomfort.
Judas fell into this trap, I believe. It got to the place where he was in it for what he could get out of it, and then that wasn’t enough. Sin has a way of doing that in our lives. It seems pleasurable for a while, but then the poison starts to have its effect. Our attitudes become more irritable and more self-seeking. We become more abrasive & less gracious. We chafe under the internal conviction,yet there is something in us that refuses to turn from our sin and repent and confess and get it right with God. In our distorted thinking, we take it out on someone else. Welcome to Judas’ world.
Judas took it so far that it caused him to take his own life. He never really understood the message of the kingdom that Jesus preached and lived.He never really grasped what it was that Jesus came to accomplish in the world. Judas’ view of Jesus and of the world became so distorted and so twisted that eventually he was overtaken by Satan. Look at John 13:27; “Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’"
Satan entered him. He possessed his body and filled his mind and his heart. All of his motivations then became the same as those of Christ’s enemy, Satan, which was the destruction of the One who was to be the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation. This is something that is hard for people to grasp. If God knew beforehand that Judas was going to do this, and if the Word teaches us that it was foreordained that Jesus was going to be betrayed, doesn’t that make Judas an innocent bystander? Doesn’t that make him a victim of the sovereignty of God? The answer, of course is, “No,” but we need to try to understand why. Look at John 17:12. Jesus is praying to His Father before he takes His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. He prays, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” The “son who was lost; the son of destruction”, that is what is meant by “the son of perdition.” He was the offspring of Satan in the sense that he would not be saved. He chose to rebel and to betray and to remain in that rebellion and betrayal, just as Satan before him had. Judas could have repented at any time, even after the consummation of his betrayal in the Garden. He chose to not bow before Jesus Christ in repentance. It’s easy for us to distance ourselves from him: “How could he do that? I would never do that!” But I believe that anyone, put into the right - or wrong - circumstances, facing the right amount of pressure, is capable of betrayal, even betraying Jesus. The question for us is not if we will betray Jesus in our lives, but when. The power of sin in our lives is too strong for us to resist it forever.
We may be tempted to write off this line of thinking. “The power of sin” may feel like an antiquated phrase, something only said at tent revival meetings, or maybe it carries a lot of negative baggage for you. It may be even harder for you to grasp the concept of Satan entering into someone and influencing their behavior, outside of a horror movie. But Judas reminds us that people can be led by forces beyond themselves that pull them into destruction. We have to be careful about downplaying the role of evil in our world. Like God, there is a mystery about evil that is beyond all human understanding. If Satan opposed Jesus in this story, Satan will oppose Jesus in our story.
Like Judas, we’ll never always make the right choices. That’s not an excuse for our sins, but it is reality. What we have to be careful of is how we follow up these moments. Matthew tells us that, after his betrayal, Judas was overcome with remorse. That’s a good starting point, but it’s not the same as repentance. It’s one thing to feel badly for what we’ve done; it’s quite another to actively seek forgiveness and reconciliation. Remorse means feelings of regret; Remorse is not repentance. Remorse is just a feeling of shame over something we have done and sadness over something we have lost.Repentance is a changing of our mind and heart and a turning to God in confession, in being in agreement with God about the exact nature and character of our wrong and the punishment that is due . Remorse is saying under your breath, “I shouldn’t have done that.” Repentance is looking in the eyes of the one you’ve wronged and saying, “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Judas never takes that step. After his betrayal, he doesn’t return to the community of the disciples, where forgiveness would be found. We need our community the most when we are at our lowest. Judas doesn’t realize this. Instead, he suffers alone, increasing in despair, unwilling to believe he could be forgiven, until his remorse drives him to take his own life. It is God’s right to mete out justice, not ours. Judas took it upon himself to mete out justice to himself for what he had done. Sure he was deserving of death. But it was not his place to execute that sentence. He so missed what Jesus was all about that he was unable to receive mercy from God.
Clear back in John 6, Jesus knew what was happening inside of Judas. Jesus knew that a change was taking place in Judas’ heart. Judas was unaware that the squabbles he was experiencing were because something was wrong with him, not with the others. His discomfort with what Jesus was teaching and the attitude of sacrifice of the Savior rubbed him the wrong way. Jesus could see that things were beginning to grate on Judas and that the spiritual disciplines were becoming lacking in his life. How do I know this?
Judas had taken to stealing from the offering. In John 12:1-8 , 1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages." 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." The story of where Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, taking an extremely expensive perfume and anointing Jesus’ feet with it and wiping his feet with her hair is told. John records Judas reaction in verse 5, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" Three hundred denarii would be almost a year’s pay for the average worker. John has already said that Judas was planning on betraying Jesus, and then goes on to say, “He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it (verse 6).”
Judas had at some point began to see the ministry of Jesus Christ as something that he could use to benefit himself. This is something that all of us have to be wary of, especially those of us in ministry, for we all have the same potential for being self-serving and self-seeking in our service to the Lord. Judas is no different than many who have claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ throughout the centuries. Some people come to Jesus with double motives. While Judas expresses concern for the poor, his underlying motivation is greed and covetousness. This is where Judas opened the door for Satan to not only get a foothold but to eventually take over completely, exchanging any good motive that Judas may have had for the desires and motives that spring from the Prince of Darkness.
We all have to be careful of this. We …none of us can afford to give sin a place in our lives. We need to consistently seek to have the mind and attitude of Christ in regard to the things that He says are unrighteous and evil. If He says it is wicked, then we need to say it is wicked and not give it a place in our lives. If He says it is holy and right, then we need to make it a part of our lives.How then did he fall so far? How could anyone who was that type of disciple and follower of Jesus at that height fall to the depths of betrayal. How? I guess it poses a warning to us. The longer we are Christians, the longer we are believers, the easier and easier it becomes for us to take the Lord for granted, and the easier and easier it becomes for us to coast in our spiritual life. Because you know what, now we have learned all the jingles. We know what to say, we know the Christian smile to have, we know how to answer questions right theologically. We know how to pretend very well, while on the inside we are dying. And there are secret things in our lives, like in the secret life of Judas, that have now crept in that no one else knows about. But they are hurting us, they are affecting our lives.
The point is that we are just as susceptible to being overtaken by our sin and being overtaken by Satan as Judas was.
Judas believed he was following the Messiah. Judas believed that the One he followed was the Promised One. Judas believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Well, guess what? So do Satan and his demons. Look at James 2:19. They believe and tremble as all who are lost in wickedness should. We dare not allow ourselves to follow down that path very far without turning back.
The message of Judas’ life is not how bad his betrayal of Jesus was or whether or not he had a choice in the matter: he did have a choice, just as we all do.
From Judas, we know that having in the highest title, or serving in the most important position in the church, could not buy a confirmation of our faithfulness to God. Judas, with the best background the best experience with Jesus, with the most unique ministries in proclaiming the messianic age, betrayed the messiah himself. The point of Judas’ life is that each and every one of us does have choices to make. We can choose whether or not we are going to live lives of holiness as Jesus has called us to live; we all can choose whether or not we are going to classify as evil what God classifies as evil or if we are going to see it as entertainment; we all can choose whether or not we are going to attach ourselves to the ministry of Jesus Christ in righteous service or for selfish motivations. we should never say that it is fate that we are living in an environment & that we can’t be faithful to God. We cannot even say, God predestined me to an ordinary Christian, unable to do great works for God. God demanded faithfulness from us and expected us to work out our salvation. We couldn’t blame God for being unfaithful to him. Neither could we blame the devil for tempting us, we could only blame ourselves for not keeping our spiritual life healthy and letting the devil to gain a foot hold in our life. Think of Judas and the warning he presents for us. It is a call for all of us to be careful about being complacent in our walk with God because, like Judas, we can fall a long way, and it is hard to recover once you have fallen that far. He is also a man known in Scripture as being chosen by Christ and Jesus had thousands of options to go with and he chose Judas, one of the twelve out of thousands, because he really believed he was the right man.
Wherever you are today, my prayer is that you will choose to turn and repent and confess and be forgiven and be cleansed and be made right with God and that you will cast the devil out of whatever stronghold he has established in your life so that you do not go down the path of destruction that Judas followed. Make the right choice today.
