Matthew 26:14-16 Mark 14:10-11 Luke 22:3-6
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3 And
Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of
the twelve. 4 And he went away and discussed
with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. 5 They
were glad and agreed to give him money. 6 So
he consented,and began seeking a good opportunity to betray
Him to them apart from the crowd.
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We have a saying: “fake it till you make it.” Judas gives up trying to “make it.” The recent exchange over the perfume Mary had
“wasted” on Jesus may have been what pushed him over the edge. Since Judas didn’t believe that Jesus was the
Messiah, it must have made him furious to see Jesus accepting such lavish and
expensive worship. Then to top it off,
Jesus criticized him for suggesting the money be given to the poor. The anger, hurt, indignation, greed and pride
collide in the heart of Judas. They
create a “perfect storm” and lead Judas down a path of destruction.
JUDAS TAKES THE INITIATIVE: Judas knows the religious leaders
are looking for an opportunity to arrest Jesus away from the crowd. He rationalizes that he might as well make
some financial gain from helping the inevitable happen. He may have even told himself that he would give
the money to the poor to make up for the “wasted” ointment. Whatever went through his mind, Judas takes
the initiative to make an offer to betray Jesus, but he wants to make money off
the deal. Luke makes it clear that Judas
was really only a pawn in the scheme of Satan.
Thoughts always precede actions.
It is of great importance that we keep our thoughts in check, or we will
find ourselves rationalizing unthinkable acts.
JUDAS ACCEPTS THE INCENTIVE: The chief priests offer an
incentive of 30 pieces of silver for betrayal of Jesus and Judas accepts the
deal. Judas is convinced that Jesus is
not the Messiah and He is clearly claiming to be. The Messiah Judas was expecting was a reigning
King who would bring prosperity to His followers. Jesus was speaking of death and
persecution. There is good money in
ruling and reigning – persecution and crucifixion; not so much. Judas decides to cut his losses, make his 30
pieces of silver in the process and then move on to the next scheme. That would not be as easy as he thought. Clearly, there must have been a great deal of
rationalization that allowed Judas to come to this point. He must have convinced himself that by betraying
Jesus, he was doing God’s work.
JUDAS SEARCHES FOR INDICATIVE: Once the deal had been
struck, Judas begins to look for an opportunity to close the deal he had
made. He knew that it could not be done
in a crowded area, so the time and the place were a crucial part of the
plan. Sinful deeds are usually practiced
in secret so they will not be exposed.
Secrecy and silence are two of the greatest contributing factors to a
life of sin. What we seldom realize is
that secrecy and silence are only an illusion.
There is no such thing as secrecy.
God knows everything we do, say or think as well as the motives of our
hearts. One day all of those “secret”
things will be fully exposed when we face God’s judgment. What Judas is doing if typical of how all of
us rationalize our ways into sinfulness.
We convince ourselves that we deserve whatever we want and then begin
planning on how we can do what we want without being caught. Those two statements are contradictory, but
it is how we seek to justify our sin. When
we find ourselves seek for an opportunity to sin; we need to shake ourselves
back into reality and obedience.
APPLICATION: Be careful to guard our hearts from the love of
money, because it will lead us down a path of destruction and all kinds of evil. Make sure that we are not rationalizing sin
and ignoring the work of the Spirit in our hearts. Understand that we are never alone and that
nothing is ever hidden from God’s sight.
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