Lessons from the Betrayal of Judas

In the traditional period of Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent, we turn our attention directly to Jesus’s suffering and death. As disciples of Jesus, it should be sobering that all abandoned him on the night of his arrest, and only one of the twelve stood at the foot of the Cross. Beyond that, he was betrayed to his death by one of his own, a friend, who sent him to his death with a kiss. That act of betrayal became a warning for those approaching the Eucharist, as the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom prays before Communion: “I will not give a kiss as did Judas.”

Judas has been subject to much speculation. Why did he do it? What did he want to accomplish? Was he saved in the end? We might ask, why is it so popular to want to save Judas today, when the Church Fathers and the tradition of the Church clearly taught the opposite? In a time of betrayal, with millions turn away from God, perhaps he has become a symbol of hope for salvation even after turning away from God or falling into sin. Peter, rather, served that purpose throughout history, as a model of genuine repentance. Despite the speculation, it can help us to meditate on what Scripture actually teaches us about Judas.

1. Judas was chosen by Jesus. He was called as one of the twelve, his closest followers, on whom Jesus would found his Church by giving them authority to teach, forgive sins, baptize, and celebrate the Eucharist. Even in the lists that the Gospels offer of the calling of the twelve, he is noted as the betrayer (Matthew 10:4, for example). There may be more we can glean from his name. In the first volume of Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI notes that Iscariot can mean “son of Karioth” but it “may also designate him as a Sicarian, a radical variant of the Zealots” (177). This may be why some speculation on his motives for betrayal suggest that he wanted Jesus to do more than simply accept his Passion. Was he trying to force his hand? If so, the Gospels do not say this explicitly.

2. Judas did not believe all that Jesus taught. After the bread of life discourse in John 6, John notes that some would no longer follow him after his teaching about eating his flesh. Peter affirms his faith, but John also quotes Jesus: “‘But there are some of you that do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that should betray him” (John 6:64). It shouldn’t surprise us that the one who betrayed him would struggle to believe all that he taught.

3. Judas was a thief. It is John again who explains this: “But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it” (John 12:4-6). The anointment cost a year’s worth of work and he wanted the money for himself. The Synoptic Gospel’s list his avarice as the motive for betrayal. Matthew, for instance, tells us: “Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him” (Matthew 26:14-16). He sold Jesus for a fraction of the cost of the perfume, the cost of a slave in Exodus 21:32.

4. His betrayal fulfilled the Scriptures. In Acts 1, Peter explains to the community, “Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry” (Acts 1:16-17). When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he said that he would not resist so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled (Matthew 26:54). The betrayal of Jesus becomes an instrument of divine providence. God uses this betrayal as a means of the whole world.

5. Judas became an agent of the devil. Judas may have been motivated by greed, but it is the enemy who inspires him to the act: “And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him” (John 13:2). The Gospels are clear that Satan actually enters Judas, in all likelihood indicating that he was possessed. Luke locates it when he goes off to confer with the priests (Luke 22:3), and John when Jesus gives him the morsel of bread as a final act of love: “Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly'” (John 13:27).

6. Judas repented and then despaired. Betrayal did not need to lead to despair and death, as we see in the contrast with Peter who repents and turns back to Jesus. Judas does recognize that he had done wrong: “When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, ‘I have sinned in betraying innocent blood’…. And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:3, 5). He does not repent to life but to death.

7. Judas is lost. Jesus says that he has kept his disciples safe except for one. “While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). This is why Jesus says it would have been better for him not to have been born: “‘The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’ Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Is it I, Master?’ He said to him, “You have said so.’ (Matthew 26:24-26). Jesus tells us clearly that Judas was lost and that he life ends in the most tragic way possible. Only for those in Hell would it be better that they not be born.

There are many lessons for us to learn from Judas and his betrayal of Jesus. Jesus calls even those who will fall away and turn their back on him, showing that he wants all of us to come to him. Though we struggle with vice and unbelief, God will still entrust gifts to us, such as the moneybag entrusted to Judas. When we fall into sin, he will give us opportunities to turn back to him. In this, we can imitate Peter after his betrayal, truly repenting with contrition and love rather than despair.

The tragic tale of Judas should invite us to believe fully in the Son of God follow him faithfully to the end, always turning back to him for forgiveness, no matter what happens. He has a plan for us and can bring good out of evil, if we allow him to work in us through his grace rather than closing our hearts to him.