Judas Iscariot,
most famously known as the one who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ,
was a chosen Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. While all of the
other Apostles where Galileans, Judas was a native of the city of
Carioth in Judah. Among Judas' duties was carrying the purse for
the disciples. As written by St. John, (John 12:4-6), the motives
of Judas were evident from the beginning. King David prophesied
his betrayal saying, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9).
The prophet David also prophesied the consequences of his actions
and the pain veered to his children in Psalm 109:2-20. When the
precious ointment was used to anoint the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Judas asked why the ointment was not sold for three hundred
pence and given to the poor. His concern for the poor was not the
issue, but rather the money, seeing that he was carrying the purse
and the things put therein.
It’s worth
highlighting certain characteristics and actions taken to accomplish
betrayal. The conspiracy to arrest the Messiah started when Judas
decided to approach the chief priests and Pharisees. It is mentioned
that he was the one to approach the chief priests and not vice versa.
In other words, Judas was not externally tempted to commit this
sin, but rather prompted from within. Various theories have been
discussed on the possible desires or motives that caused Judas to
think and act the way he did. It should be noted that Judas’ consequent
death was not a peaceful one. When Judas saw that the Lord Christ
had been condenmed, he felt great remorse and returned the thirty
pieces of silver and sought to hang himself in the potters field.
Although Judas was remorseful, he was not repentent. As it is written,
he jumped from the top of a tree in the attempt to break his neck,
and in doing so he separated his midsection causing his entrails
to gush out. We can draw an archetype between this inner gushing
of organs to the origin of his sin being from within. But, Judas’
approach to remove the sin was one that led to his death. The field
where this took place is, up to this day, called, “Akel-Dama”, field
of blood. Note that the high priests refused to keep the returned
money, but used the money to buy this field and bury the foreigners
in town.
The various
theories for Judas’ motives are many, only a few will be mentioned.
Judas, like many other Jews at the time and like all Jews now, could
have been waiting for a triumphant king to liberate Israel from
Roman rule. He might have been desiring to gain a governmental position
in the new Israel. As he learned more about the Lord Jesus and His
mission of salvation, he started to lose hope in what he had been
dreaming of ever since he took on his discipleship with the Lord
Christ. Judas was expecting and seeking a savior for Israel and
not for human kind.
Judas could
have decided to join the high priests and Pharisees, which according
to earthly expectations, was the "victorious" party. As previously
mentioned, Judas was feeling let down by the Lord Jesus as He was
not fighting for the liberation of Israel. Judas wanted more for
his country than he did for his salvation.
A weaker argument
is that Judas desired the 30 pieces of silver, which was at the
time, the price of a slave. Ironically, the number 30 is a result
of the product of 5 and 6. In the Holy Scripture 5 symbolizes the
five senses of humanity used to interact with the surrounding environment.
The number 6 is the number to denote Satan, being powerful, but
short of the Supreme God, Whom is symbolized by 7. This product
is the basic necessity of uniting the human and the evil to manifest
an evil work. Contrast this to the simpler model of marriage where
the two individuals ,1 and 1, unite to produce 1 by the product
of their representative numbers 1 and 1. They are not added to produce
2.
Another possible
theory is that Judas was not pleased at the public rebuke he received
from his Master at the Last Supper. His feelings of alienation from
his desire for a temporal position in an earthly kindgom could have
led him to place the Lord Christ in a contraversial position to
test Him with hopes of gaining insight on His mission. This was
the time for Judas to see if the Lord Christ could flee the Roman
soldiers and demonstrate power over the occupying Roman rule.
What does this
great incident have to do with me? Regardless of what was really
going on in Judas’ inner self, According to the Gnostics, this had
to happen for our redemption. Should we then view Judas as a vital
link in the process leading to our salvation, and as a result be
thankful for him or was it to clarify the sharp contrast in Judas’
reaction to his sin versus that of St Peter’s in his famous denial
of the Lord Christ?
In the end,
Judas decided to end all hope of a new start and committed another
sin of killing himself. Did he desire to end his life and get to
the afterlife and meet with Christ one-on-one to remorsefully apologize
for his great sin, as Origen hypothosized? The answer is unknown,
but we know that Judas did not betray his Master seeking a fulfilment
of prophesy. If he did so, that would mean that he believed this
is the Saviour, and if so, why did he regret it afterwards? As Christians
we condemn his acts but we are not in the place of judging where
his destiny lies. We know for sure that while the Lord Christ was
manifested to us in the form of the Son of Man, every action of
the people around Him was done out of freewill. There was no action
that took place in the duration of the Lord Christ's time on earth
that was not out of freewill, otherwise we will not have a true
salvation. As sin came into the world by free will so was it removed.
If Judas did
not betray the Lord Jesus Christ, then most surely some other evil
manifested in another human would commit this act. If no other human
was willing to commit this act, then evil in this world could not
be linked with humans. If that was the case, we would be already
saved, and the incarnation of God and the death of His only begotten
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah would not be needed for
our salvation.
