Judas

Matthew chapter 27 begins with the handing over of Jesus to the Gentiles in the person of Pilate, the Roman governor. This was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy as well as of Jesus’ own predictions of his death. He had warned the disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.

Judas confessed that Jesus was innocent. “I have betrayed innocent blood.” was his testimony. Once again, a true statement. It was a powerful testimony to Jesus’ flawless character and a harsh indictment of the wicked character of the men who had condemned Jesus and to whom Judas spoke, But confessing the innocence of Jesus by itself never saved a single soul. Pilate did the same.

How exactly did Judas die? And how should we understand Matthew’s strange reference to Jeremiah to explain the priests’ decision to use Judas’ blood money to buy the potters field? “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, and they used them to buy the potters field, as the Lord commanded me’” (vv. 9, 10).

Let’s get back to the story and look at a few more lessons from Judas’ actions. First, partners in evil are not friends. It is common to speak of honor among thieves or imagine sentimental bonds among those who do evil. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Those who share in evil actions are not friends, and the reason they are not is because each is evil.

One of the bad things about sin is that its course is always downhill. Judas had a bad end, but we should remember that it did not come about at once. He was an evil man, just like the rulers of the day. But Judas did not start out that way. At one time he must have been an innocent-looking baby smiling in his mother’s arms. We all begin like that. But somewhere Judas’ life took an evil downturn, and his eventual suicide was the result. What was Judas’ life story like? We do not have many details. There is no reason we should. But what we do know about him goes something like this.