Judas the Betrayer   Michael Streich

History contains many stories of heinous betrayal. Brutus betrayed Caesar for misguided reasons; Benedict Arnold and Vidkun Quisling are modern examples of men that betrayed a cause and their countries. Yet the greatest betrayer is Judas Iscariot, one of the chosen twelve disciples of Jesus. The medieval poet Dante consigns Judas to the lowest level of hell in his Inferno. The story of Judas is not only one of betrayal, but of how greed and selfishness led to hypocrisy and ultimately separation from God.

 

Who was Judas Iscariot?

 

Judas was the only one of the twelve who was not Galilean. The name “Iscariot,” attributed also to his father Simon, links him to southern Judaea, most likely identified with Kerioth. Scholar Colin Kerr cites Judas’ “nefarious character” from the very beginning of his call to be one of the twelve. He was assigned the task of treasurer for the group – the keeper of the purse. Most Bible scholars suggest that Judas had a good business sense and was thus entrusted with the responsibility.

 

But Judas was an embezzler. John, writing in 12: 4ff, comments on Judas’ response to Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet during a Passover visit to Bethany: “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” John makes it clear that Judas was not thinking of the poor, but “because he was a thief” and coveted the lost revenues.

 

At the time of Christ, one denarius represented a day’s wages. John also points out that the “genuine spikenard-ointment” was “very costly.” Charles Williams’ 1937 translation rendered the cost at sixty dollars. By most accounts, the implication was that Mary had wasted a small fortune in the eyes of Judas.

 

The Last Supper and the Betrayal

 

Jesus had always known that Judas would betray him, yet he held open the door until Judas’ departure from the last meal. In John 6:66, many of Jesus’ disciples left and walked “with him no more.” Although the twelve remained true, Jesus stated that “Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil.” The same term is used by John in chapter 13 when he wrote that during the supper, the devil had already “put into the heart” of Judas the act of betrayal.

 

Before the meal, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples saying that “you are now clean, but not all.” During the meal, Jesus inaugurated a debate after stating “one of you shall betray me.” “Lord, who is it?” asked John. Jesus dipped a morsel and gave it to Judas. After taking the bread, according to the Scripture, “Satan entered” Judas.

 

The interpretation of this passage has proven most difficult within various Christian faith traditions. Was the “morsel” or bread the Eucharist? John only states that Judas took it from Jesus. Was his possible rejection of the given bread the final separation – he left the room immediately after the event? Judas never approached the last supper with a pure heart. He had already contracted with the high priests to betray or give up Jesus to his enemies.

 

The Kiss and Thirty Pieces of Silver

 

The height of blasphemous behavior was the betrayal with a kiss. In the history of church formation, the kiss of peace, an important part of the liturgy, represented the love Christians had for each other, the same love John would later detail in his epistles. Yet Judas’ kiss was an act of hatred. For this he was paid thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 27). How typical is Judas of those who outwardly profess faith yet strive to “gain the world and lose their soul?” As one scholar noted, “the cancer of his greed spread from the material to the spiritual.”

 

Sources:

 

Colin Kerr, “Judas Iscariot,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1939, Volume III)

Herbert Lockyer, All the Men of the Bible (Zondervan Books, 1958)

New American Bible (World Publishers, 1970)

The New Testament in the Language of the People, Charles B. Williams (Moody Press, 1963)

[Copyright owned by Michael Streich. Reprints require written permission]