Matthew 26:14-25

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief

priests and said, “what will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid

him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an

opportunity to betray him.

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying

“where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the

Passover?” He said, ʻGo into the city to a certain man, and say to him “The

teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with

my disciples.” So the disciples did as Jesus directed them, and they

prepared the Passover meal.

When it was evening, He took his place with the twelve; and while they

were eating , he said “Truly i tell you, one of you will betray me.ʼ And they

became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another,

ʻSurely not I, Lord?ʼ He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into

the bowl with me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to

that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for

that one not to have been born.ʼ Judas who betrayed him, said, “Surely not

I, Rabbi?ʼ He replied, “You have said so.ʼ

Betrayal by one of His own

Betrayal according to Merriam-Webster is: the violation of a personʼs trust

or confidence, of a moral standard, etc.

Betrayal is hard to accept, but even harder is when it is someone close to

you, someone you thought you could trust. Jesus is betrayed by Judas, for

a mere 30 pieces of silver, todays value a little less then $265. In John 12:6

we also find out that he was stealing from the money bag, as he was the

one in charge of it. So Judas is portrayed as an unsavory character. Still it

is hard to believe that he could do this to the Son of Man, for so little. We

do not know why Judas betrayed Jesus, there are speculations, Barclay

says Judas misunderstood Jesus, the Gospels says Satan entered him, I

have heard maybe jealousy, but the reason he did it does not matter since

we knew it had to happen.

Has anyone ever betrayed you?Lied to you? Hurt you? was that someone

a close friend, family member, co-worker? How did that make you feel? Did

you forgive them? We all have experienced some kind of betrayal and I

know for me it was very hurtful. We can forgive and should forgive, but if

we were hurt really bad we probably will not forget. But we can learn from

that and know if it is someone we want to trust with something we value.

Not saying that the person who betrayed you can never be trusted again,

but people can change and grow, but they will have to earn that trust back.

Jesus knows that this is going to happen. He knew his time was near, and

also knew that it was one of His chosen who would betray him. We see

further on in Chapter 26 that Judas tells the chief priests “the one I will kiss

is the man; arrest him”. Judas comes up to Jesus and says “greetings

Rabbi” and kissed him. Jesus says to him “friend do what you are here to

do.” But we do not see Jesus getting angry, He knew his dying would fulfill

the prophecy. In Matthew 26:53-54 Jesus says “Do you think that I cannot

appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more then 12 legions of

angels? But then how would scripture be fulfilled, which say it must happen

this way.” Jesus seems to take it in stride, He had to have been hurt, yet

he just as easily forgives Judas.

In Matthew 27 we meet a remorseful Judas who gives back the 30 pieces

of silver and says he has sinned by betraying an innocent blood. After that

he went and hung himself. Guilt can be a heavy burden to bear.