JUDAS' BETRAYAL

Matt 26:14-25

The name Judas has entered every language and is synonymous with betrayal. Two questions came in mind as I was reading this passage: Did Jesus make a mistake in choosing Judas as one of His apostles and intimate friends? And if it was not a mistake, why would Judas decide to betray his master? Several times in the bible, Judas is portrayed as motivated by greed. More can be added to that. Maybe Judas thought that Jesus was proceeding too slowly and not acting aggressively enough in setting up His messianic kingdom where they can all share power, wealth and honor. And he just wanted to push Jesus a little bit because he does not know his master.

His disillusionment is complete when Jesus is kind of refusing this role as king, and he is now announcing his death. He seems not interested in it at all, and Judas is confused; his hopes are vanishing. This man Jesus is not willing to take over the empire where all the disciples can have a share of power. With all this in his mind, perhaps Judas only wanted to force Jesus’ hand by compelling Him to act more quickly. His tragedy may be more of impatience than greed. It is not only greed, it is not only that he wanted those thirty pieces of silver, but mostly it is about Judas’ refusal to accept Jesus as He is. That is where Judas’ mistakes lay.

The same might be true with us. On this Wednesday of the Holly Week, the purpose of highlighting this tragic incident of Judas is to provoke us into examining our behavior as Christians. Sometimes in our life, due to great human need, we tend to use God according to our own purposes and desires; we ask God to bend to our will. Like Judas, we want to change Jesus’ life and mission instead of us changing our own life and following Jesus. Today we are reminded that we should ceaselessly ask Jesus this same question of Judas, ‘Surely, it is not I Lord?’ As a way of saying: Have I betrayed the Lord in one way or the other? To ask ourselves this question does not imply that we have been disloyal to our Lord, but rather, it makes us steadfast in our faith and helps us understand the dark side of ourselves. The worst thing Judas did was to run away from the Lord after he discovered his dark side. We shouldn’t run away from the Lord because of our sins. We have to stay with him and seek his pardon. May the Lord continue to guide and protect us.