(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.
And this was one of those times. Comparing this event with the one recorded in John 12, Judas was the first one to complain about the ointment being used and not sold! He may not have known, or comprehended, that this ointment, some of the most costly stuff in Israel, was sometimes an heirloom, handed down from mother to daughter, one generation after another. It’s anybody’s guess how long the ointment had been in the family, but if there was a time to use it, it was then, as Mary of Bethany understood, as few did, what Jesus had been saying.
The Scofield Reference Bible notes for Matthew 26:7, by the way, (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/sco/matthew/26.htm) explain that this Mary was not one of the various people who returned to the tomb to anoint the Lord’s body.
But none of that seemed to matter to Judas. And once he heard the Lord’s rebuke, to use my sister’s words, he had what looks like a tantrum! He wanted the money, but didn’t get it, and I can’t help but feel he was seething over not getting that money—almost an entire year’s worth of wages, and he couldn’t get it.
Now what was he going to do?
2 Judas became a betrayer
We may never know how a rebuke (let the woman alone, what she did is worth more than any amount of money) led to a decision to betray the Lord to the authorities. Something, though, was the breaking point for Judas and he promptly, it seems, went to the chief priests.
And did he have a deal for them. Open-ended, as it turned out, because Judas simply asked “how much do I get” for this horrible deed. It’s true, back when the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11), shortly after that these leaders made a decree that if anybody knew where Jesus was, he needed to tell them (John 11:57). Clearly, Judas did know and, maybe, in his mind he was simply doing his duty, or, “just following orders” from the religious leaders.
Well, the leaders gave Judas thirty pieces of silver, or a month’s wages. Some of the easiest money he ever earned—ah, received, isn’t it? The same kind of temptation can come to us, in that we can be promised friends, riches, self-esteem, anything the devil wants to give, in exchange for betraying of denying Jesus. How many “stars” got their starts by singing in church—and then using these talents in other forms of music, for example?
There’s something else that may indeed have made Judas feel uneasy. I’ve wondered, first, what did he say when he left the group and went to the chief priests? Surely he didn’t say “Hey, guys, I’m going to the chief priests and deliver Jesus to them” so he would have had to at worst tell a whopping big lie, or at least a fib. Now that he had made the deal, he would have to live with the effects of this deal.
But Jesus knew all about it and was going to pull back the curtain. Very soon.
3 Judas was discovered
Text, Matthew 26:20-25, NASV: 20 Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve. 21 And as they were eating, He said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.” 22 Being deeply grieved, they began saying to Him, each one: “Surely it is not I, Lord?” 23 And He answered, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. 24 The Son of Man is going away just as it is written about Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” 25 And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” Jesus *said to him, “You have said it yourself.”
We now see Jesus and the disciples in the “upper room.” In verses 17-19, Jesus had explained to the disciples that they were to go into the city (Jerusalem) and find “a certain man”—Mark adds the words of Jesus, “carrying a pitcher of water (Mark 14:12-16)” as does Luke (22:7-13) and that this man would show them the upper room, furnished and ready for the group. A number of commentators observed that carrying pitchers of water was women’s work and unusual for a male to do this, but that’s what happened, exactly as Jesus informed them.
This upper room is where they would eat the Passover meal (per Exodus 12). They reclined at the table, not really sitting like we think or even standing as da Vinci painted in his masterpiece “the last supper”. No, the men reclined on their left sides around an open square or area in the middle. That’s where the food was placed, and each man could use his right arm to get as much or as little as he wanted.
Now, with this being the Passover meal, they would have had roasted lamb, bitter herbs, some wine, and a special “sauce” or, maybe, a “glaze” made of stewed fruits, according to another Bible teacher. If you’ve ever seen or taken part in a Passover “seder” or something similar, you’ll recall there were various quotes from the Old Testament about the original Passover and other things. For these men, being observant Jews, it was real.
Sadly, one of the most real things was about to take place. Just when Jesus made this announcement, “One of you will betray Me,” isn’t clear, but it was a bombshell to the disciples. Each one of them must have been startled, frightened, amazed, or any number of feelings. It’s true; there must have been some disagreements and differences of opinions along the way. Take any 12 men and see how long it takes before somebody says or does something somebody else doesn’t like! And think about the various backgrounds of each disciple: four, at least, were professional fishermen; one was a former tax-collector; for the rest, we’re not sure what kind of work they did before they heard the call, “Follow Me”, and they did so.
One by one, then, each asked, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” Imagine the looks as each one uttered these words. Trust, after all, is not always easy to gain but so easy to lose, especially when it comes to something so evil as betraying the very Lord of glory, God in human flesh. There is now a “pregnant” pause here, as Jesus waits for a moment, and gives an additional detail.
Here the Lord gives a three-sentence reply to the Eleven. Judas, notice, has not yet spoken. Jesus says first, “He who dipped his hand with me in the bowl (where the sauce or glaze was held) will betray Me.” He doesn’t name anyone here. Not yet, anyway, but He isn’t finished.
Now Jesus tells them something, again, that they just hadn’t “got”—that He is going to “go away just as it is written about Him.” Pausing for a moment, we’ll never know how much or how little the disciples knew about the prophecies of a SUFFERING Messiah. Oh, sure, they knew many if not all of them about the CONQUERING Messiah, riding on the colt, and so on. Just days before a good sized crowd of people threw down their clothes and had even chopped down tree limbs, shouting ‘Hosanna!” They saw prophecy being fulfilled, all right, but not everything that they wanted or expected. Did they ever forgive Jesus for not doing what they wanted? Ridiculous, of course; Jesus was concerned only with pleasing the Father and doing His will.
And Jesus still gives Judas one more opportunity to repent or come clean. He says, perhaps with a tender appeal. “Woe (a dire curse or warning) to the man who does betray Me! It would be better if he had never been born,” Again, Jesus knew all about what Judas had done, and was still offering Judas a chance to repent or make things right. All the guilt Judas had to be feeling, I think, was intensifying, but what happened next is one of the turning points in history.
Judas asked, “Is it I, Rabbi?” You know, Judas never called Jesus “Lord”. I don’t think he could. After all, Judas was already known to Jesus as “the son of perdition” and “one of you (disciples) is a devil (John 6) but he still was human, and Judas still had the choice to repent and get things right with God. This statement of his, though, proved he wasn’t interested in any of this.
And Jesus, knowing all things, said, perhaps sadly, “You have said it yourself.” The Moffatt translation of verse 25 is even more graphic: “Then Judas his betrayer said, ’Surely it is not me, Rabbi?’ He (Jesus) said to him, ‘Is it not?’”
Soon after this, Judas left but before he left, Satan entered into him the second time (Luke 22:3, and John 13:27). Jesus then told him, “Do quickly what you’re going to do” and Judas did just that. He went to the chief priests alone, but came back with an army.
Sadly, the others still had no idea what had just happened, but they would find out soon.
4 Judas delivered Jesus to His enemies
Text, Matthew 26:48-49, NASV: 48 Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign previously, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; arrest Him.” 49 And immediately Judas went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.
After Judas left the group, Jesus and the others remained in the Upper Room for a while (John 13:14). Then Jesus took the disciples over the Kidron Valley, Ravine, whatever it’s called, and asked them to pray. He took Peter, James, and John with Him and asked them to keep watch while He prayed. What Mark and Luke wrote in their gospels is touching, beyond words. Our Lord was doing and undergoing all of this for us, so that we might be saved.
When Jesus had finished a prayer, He saw (sensed?) Judas and the others were coming. Sure enough, Judas made sure everyone knew who Jesus was—Judas used the kiss of friendship as a mark of identity (“He’s the one!”).
Other things happened there in the garden, and you can read about that at your leisure, but remember that Jesus was led away like a criminal, like public enemy number 1.
And He had done nothing wrong, yet He was betrayed by one of His own disciples.
The last recorded words of Judas give a glimpse of what he himself was going through.
5 Judas deliberately took his own life
Text, Matthew 27:3-55, NASV: 3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You shall see to it yourself!” 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and left; and he went away and hanged himself.
I can only imagine the roller coaster of emotions Judas went through at this time. He may have felt good at making a bargain earlier, the life of Jesus for a month’s pay (and if that’s enough to make me sell out an innocent person, then I’m cheaper than anything you can get) but now he’s feeling remorse. He’s not the only one: Cain felt some remorse when God approached him regarding the death of Abel, his own brother. Cain, though, never repented, so far as we can tell, and likely went to Hell when he died. Saul had remorse when David spared his life, but never stopped trying to kill David, either. And we could list others. The two things all of these folks, and I dare say every human being who’s ever lived, is that we do wrong, we feel remorse (could that be our conscience talking to us?), but some do nothing about it. That’s the problem.
And Judas had that problem, now, because he felt remorse over betraying Jesus. No need to guess what he thought would happen or not happen, he realized he had done wrong. His conscience, or what was left of it, was speaking to him.
But nothing ever came of it. Nothing, that is, except he went back to the elders and chief priests and said, “I’ve sinned by betraying innocent blood”. Fair enough, I suppose, but notice he never named Jesus as the One Whom he had betrayed! The response from these leaders, though, was even colder than the night air: “That’s your problem, not ours. Take care of it yourself!”
The irony is that Judas could have done that very thing! If he had gone to Jesus and asked for forgiveness, mercy, anything, Jesus would have done it! But Judas, for whatever reason, decided to take his own life. I won’t go into anything further, except that suicides usually create more problems than they solve. I remember years ago a person in our neighborhood killed himself and left a note saying “All my problems are over now”. Someone in his family said, “That may be true, but ours are just getting started.”
So what does all of this mean? There are people, and always have been, who hate those who do good and live for God. Finding someone, anyone, to be a traitor and ruin the lives of those who do good is one of their favorite tactics. Oh, sure, the world promises money, fame, self-esteem, glory, you name it, if you do their things their way.
But is the reward worth it? Even Martin Luther wrote in one of his works that there is no feeling of loneliness as that felt by a traitor. He’s betrayed his friends, and sold out to those who hate him and those he betrayed. Useful for a moment, then useless after the deed is done, is about all any traitor has to look forward to.
What does this mean for me? In a sentence, if I don’t stay true to Jesus, or if I sell out for anything the world has to offer, then I’m a worse traitor than Judas ever dreamed of being.
Don’t be a Judas!
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV)
Moffatt: The Bible: A New Translation. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1935
