This week's piece of the journey to the cross is the toughest to navigate. There's this line that says "Satan entered Judas" which made him look for a way to betray Jesus. And though conventional wisdom tells us he did it 'for 30 pieces of silver,' this scripture says he went to the chief priests first and pitched the plan to betray Judas and they just gave him money, almost as a thank you, and not as a bribe. And then Jesus seems to know what Judas is doing when he walks in with a crowd behind him and kisses Jesus. "Judas, do you betray me with a kiss?" Jesus says. He has mentioned earlier at the Passover meal that one who was seated among them would betray him. Did he know then that it would definitely be Judas? Or does he figure it out when Judas walks in with a crowd?
I find this story so disturbing. There is a part of it that implies Judas has no agency to choose right or wrong in this. There is a part of it that implies that Jesus needs someone to betray him. There is a part of it that implies that Satan can control a situation, even when Jesus is a part of it. And, frankly, lets face the simple truth that this is Luke's account... Luke's version written for a specific reason. So we should look a bit at that, too.
Later on in the book of Acts (which is basically the second part of Luke, since they were written by the same person to be read together), we hear of Judas one more time, in this gruesome account:
Acts 1: 16-20
Friends,[e] the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— 17 for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong,[f] he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.
So Judas dies a very gruesome death and then he lives on, remembered forever, but in infamy. There isn't a part of this story that ends the way Peter's betrayal does, when it says "Peter went out and wept bitterly." (Luke 22:62) We don't know if there was remorse in this account of Judas. It doesn't tell us there is or isn't, just that his guts explode and he dies.
Is the message, then, that betrayal is different than denial only when there is no remorse shown? In some ways Judas and Peter both deny Jesus, but Judas doesn't in this account weep over the fact. Or do they do something so different in this story that you can't really compare the two at all?
I find Judas to be a complicated character. I mean he was a disciple, so that meant he was a trusted member of the group. In fact, when Jesus says one will betray him, they don't know which one of them it will be... so he obviously wasn't an obvious choice.
When do we become like Judas in our faith journey? Do we ever betray ourselves or our faith for the lure of something that seems more important? Or is any comparison to him to difficult to make? Why is he so difficult to understand?
Email me at peverhart@niwoutmc.org or comment below.
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