Lent 2025 Day 33: Fri 11 Apr
Matthew 27:1-10
Judas hangs himself
27 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 ‘I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood.’
‘What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘That’s your responsibility.’
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, ‘It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.’ 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.’
It's only Matthew who tells this story. In the other Gospels Judas betrays Jesus and then disappears from the storyline. I wonder whether they judged him to be so bad that they did not want to sully their gospel accounts with him, or whether he was considered simply not worthy of any further mention.
It is significant to me that Matthew records that Judas is filled with remorse. Was he expecting Jesus to have evaded arrest or to have started the revolution when they attempted to arrest him?
The man Judas kissed did not display any anger towards him, nor did this betrayal spur him into some armed reaction – he meekly accepted his arrest. He did berate those who came under cover of darkness to arrest him for their cowardice, but he did not put up a fight.
Judas may have felt that Jesus was not the Messiah that he wanted. It may be that his experience of Jesus earlier that evening may have already put some doubts into his mind. The anticlimax of the arrest may have caused him to rethink.
Perhaps that overfamiliarity with Satan may have caused him not to see things clearly, and it was only now that he realised he’d been sold a lie. Satan can weave a blanket of deceit from just a few threads of uncertainty.
Whatever his motives, there was remorse. He feels compelled to step back. Even though paying back the money will not undo what has just happened it would go some way to showing that his remorse was real. He would not have foreseen the chief priest’s compassionless response. The bleakness of his situation was only enhanced by their words.
Judas kills himself. What else can he do?
To add further insult the chief priests show they care more about the religious status of the blood money than about the man they’d paid it to. They did not for one second consider that the money, given for the worship and maintenance of the Temple, had been misused by them in the first place.
Was there anything Judas could have done?
Did he have to die?
Could he have been forgiven?
Father God, when I am on the verge of despair then You are my only hope. You love me despite all that is awful about me and You are ready to forgive when I turn back to You. Your son paid a great price so that this broken spirit and contrite heart You will not turn away. Thank you, Father. Amen.
2:15:06 Ach Golgatha (Arioso)
59. Recitative A (Chorus I)
Alas, Golgotha, unhappy Golgotha!
The Lord of glory
must shamefully perish here,
the blessing and salvation of the world
is placed on the Cross as a curse.
From the Creator of heaven and earth
earth and air shall be withdrawn.
The innocent must die here guilty;
this touches my soul deeply;
Alas, Golgotha, unhappy Golgotha!
Ends at 2:16:27
Paul