Judas has a prominent legacy: he’s known as the worst traitor in history. He appears in Dante’s Inferno at the very bottom of Hell. Judas was one of the twelve disciples, which meant he was essentially one of Jesus’s religious apprentices. Disciples followed a rabbi and studied the Torah and debated its interpretations. They modeled their behavior after their rabbi and attempted to conform their lives to God’s Word. A close bond usually developed between a rabbi and his followers.
As a member of Jesus’s inner circle, Judas would have been expected to live under the spiritual authority of Jesus and to do day-to-day life alongside fellow followers of Jesus. Yet Judas took a bribe to turn Jesus over to the authorities, which led to Jesus’s execution. How did a man with such a close relationship with Jesus, a man who followed Jesus and saw His miracles and good works firsthand, betray his Master?
The corruption of the heart
Judas betrayed Jesus to the chief priests in Jerusalem for thirty silver coins, which may seem like a small fortune, but in reality was only about five or six weeks’ worth of wages. Judas’s greed shows up earlier in the Gospels. There’s a scene where Mary is washing Jesus’s feet with perfume, and Judas says, “‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ 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” (John 12:5-6 ESV).
Judas was already using Jesus as a means for his own profit long before he betrayed Him. Moreover, he masked his greed with concern for the poor. The corruption of Judas’s heart didn’t start on Good Friday, but, like all big sins, the betrayal began with small steps away from God toward worldly desires.
The appearance of intimacy with Jesus
It took time for the disciples to understand who Jesus was and to believe in Him. Interestingly, we never see Judas doing this in the Gospels. Peter famously says that only Jesus has the words of eternal life as he recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah. Thomas exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” when he touches Jesus’s resurrected body (John 20:28). And even though several of the disciples question Jesus’s actions at times, none of them are said to be hiding secret sins or conspiring against their rabbi.
Judas went off to betray Jesus during one of the most intimate scenes in the Gospels: the Last Supper. Good Friday wasn’t the finest hour for most of the disciples, but Judas is the only one who sought out to betray Jesus.
How well did Judas actually know Jesus? We can never truly know the answer to this question. How is it that pastors and evangelists cheat on their spouses and steal money from their ministries while preaching the gospel and discipling Christians? Being in close proximity to someone doesn’t equal loyalty. Being part of the group doesn’t prove genuine commitment.
The influence of Satan
In a disturbing passage, John writes that Satan enters into Judas right before he leaves the Last Supper (John 13:27). Satan’s work is seen in other parts of the Bible. He convinces Adam and Eve to sin in the Garden. He’s permitted torment Job. He tempts Jesus in the desert. He influences Ananias to lie in the book of Acts. There are also people in the Bible who are demon-possessed and under the yoke of Satan, but nowhere else is Satan shown entering someone. Satan can’t simply take over someone’s heart without there already being an openness to sin and a lack of faith. Judas had already been taking money from the disciples’ funds. His heart was already turned against Jesus before the Last Supper, allowing the prince of this world to come into him.
Judas saw Jesus as a means to his own ends. Jesus had immense popularity with the ordinary people, and Judas may have thought that he could use his position as a member of Jesus’s inner circle to gain wealth and perhaps prestige in the eyes of the religious elites of the day. What better way to get in the good graces of some of the most important men in Jerusalem than by helping to plan the arrest of their enemy Jesus? Jesus cared for the poor and criticized the powerful, whereas Judas did the exact opposite. Judas’s real masters were money and pleasing those with high status, not Jesus.
Featured Image by Udit Saptarshi
