Mark 14.41-46, Matthew 26.45-50, Luke 22.47-48, John 18.1-3.
In St. John Paul’s list of
So right after
Mark 14.41-46 KWL - 41 Jesus came back a third time and told his students, “Now you’re sleeping,
- and resting—and that’s enough. The hour’s come.
- Look, the Son of Man is getting handed over to sinful hands.
- 42 Get up so we can go: Here comes the one who sold me out.”
- 43 Next, while Jesus was yet speaking, Judas Iscariot approached the Twelve.
- With him was a crowd carrying machetes and sticks, sent by the head priests, scribes, and elders.
- 44 The one who handed over Jesus had given the crowd a signal,
- saying, “Whomever I might show affection to, is him. Grab him and take him away carefully.”
- 45 Next, coming to Jesus, he told him, “Rabbi!” and kissed him hello.
- 46 So the crowd laid their hands on Jesus and arrested him.
Matthew 26.45-50 KWL - 45 Then Jesus came back to the students and told them, “Now you’re sleeping,
- and resting—and look, the hour has come near.
- The Son of Man is getting handed over to sinful hands.
- 46 Get up so we can go: Here comes the one who sold me out.”
- 47 While Jesus was yet speaking, look: Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, came.
- With him was a great crowd carrying machetes and sticks, sent by the head priests, elders, and people.
- 48 The one who handed over Jesus gave them a sign,
- saying, “Whomever I might show affection to, is him. Grab him.”
- 49 Immediately coming to Jesus, he said, “Hello, rabbi!” and kissed him hello.
- 50 Jesus told Judas, “For whom did you come, friend?”
- Then those who came, grabbed Jesus and arrested him.
Luke 22.47-48 KWL - 45 Getting up from the prayer, Jesus went to the students
- He found them sleeping from the grief.
- 46 Jesus told them, “Why are you asleep?
- Get up and pray, or else you might enter temptation!”
- 47 While Jesus yet spoke, look: A crowd,
- and the one called Judas, one of the Twelve, leading them.
- He went to Jesus to kiss him hello,
- 48 and Jesus told him, “Judas, to kiss the Son of Man, you turn him in.”
John 18.1-3 KWL - 1 When he said this, Jesus with his students went over the Kidron ravine, where there was a garden.
- He and his students entered it.
- 2 Judas Iscariot, who was selling him out, had known of the place,
- because Jesus often gathered there with his students.
- 3 So Judas, bringing 200 men, plus servants of the head priests and Pharisees,
- came there with torches, lamps… and arms.
Judas’s motivation.
We don’t know, ’cause the scriptures don’t explicitly say, why Judas led the authorities to Jesus.
I know; many Christians are entirely sure they do know why. Books and plays and movies have been written to explain Judas’s motivation. Some to depict him as absolutely depraved and evil: Jealous because Jesus put Simon Peter in charge of the Twelve instead of him; enraged because he expected
Others actually try to defend Judas. In Albert Schweitzer’s
Most Christians recognize these “historical Jesus” theories are purely fictional farces. But every once in a while, one of us gets suckered by them, or uses ’em as an excuse to
Anybody who says Judas was secretly a good guy, or just a seriously disappointed follower who went rogue, is clearly following their own favorite ideas instead of the scriptures. ’Cause they say this:
Luke 22.3 KJV - Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
John 13.27 KJV - And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
Dude got himself possessed.
Posession doesn’t just happen (and arguably can’t happen to Christians
Christians speculate—but really, we can only speculate—
Once Christians reach this conclusion, we typically follow up with sermons against greed, against
Well. Regardless of why Judas was demonized, that’s what happened. That’s why Jesus himself identified one of his Twelve as a devil.
’Cause contrary to popular belief, usually demon-possessed people look just like everyone else. Unless the Spirit
Misguided or evil, Judas’s effect on Jesus was the same: He handed Jesus over to the people who wanted him dead. It was a low, rotten thing to do. It got our Lord killed.
Only friendlies can betray.
We typically describe Judas’s actions as
A competitor or enemy can’t legitimately sell you out. If I’m your competition, and you discover something about me and sell it, I shouldn’t be surprised and hurt you’d do such a thing. If you’re in combat, and an enemy finds you, it’s not betrayal when he tells his commanders on you. Of course opponents do such things. But when you find a friend has secretly been an opponent all this time: That’s betrayal.
So only someone on Jesus’s side could’ve betrayed him. Whether a student like Matthias, a sorta-student like Nicodemus, a friend like Lazarus, a groupie (or undercover student) like the women, or a brother like James. But in the gospels two members of the Twelve, Jesus’s best students, Jesus’s handpicked leaders, Jesus’s closest allies, turned on him. Judas brought the mob, and Simon Peter
So this hurt Jesus. Psychologically, but psychological wounds hurt just as much as physical wounds, if not more. Jesus should’ve been able to count on these people, yet they proved worse than useless. Yeah, he knew it was coming. He predicted both acts of opposition—plus that his other students would flee. That only cushions the blow a little. It’s still a blow.
Made a little worse by how it came. Judas kissed him hello, as people did back then. (Rarer now in our culture; men tend not to kiss other men hello unless they’re family.) But this close personal greeting had been twisted, by Judas, into the sign of which person to grab: Wanted posters hadn’t been invented yet, and the mob didn’t know Jesus by sight, especially since it was night (full Passover moon notwithstanding). This expression of affection singled Jesus out for their wrath. From Judas, it meant the very opposite of affection. Because of it, every similar betrayal disguised as friendship is now called a Judas kiss. Even Jesus pointed out how wholly inappropriate it was.
I’m not sure whether Judas or Jesus knew this was the last time they’d see one another alive. I’d like to think Judas’s agony over what he’d done, became repentance, and was enough to get him to heaven. Other Christians much prefer Judas in hell. Revenge fantasies give us a bit of bias in that direction: These vengeful Christians love to point out when Judas “repented himself” in
But Jesus picked Judas for his Twelve for a reason. I seriously doubt it was just as an object lesson for the whole world: Look how even our closest friends can shaft us, ’cause it happened to Jesus. I’d like to think it’s ’cause Jesus truly wanted Judas saved, and in his kingdom. ’Cause God wants everyone saved.
