I do not know why I am compelled to share this study with you, but the Lord has impressed upon me this task. It has been with deep emotions and many shed tears that I have prayed over and studied for this post. Perhaps it is because I so often feel unworthy of God’s love as I let him down on a regular basis, repeatedly. And yet, He still pushed me to search into the life of this man, Judas Iscariot.

It began when I was driving several hours to visit family, and had plenty of time to worship and pray. Listening to my Bible app, I began to reflect on Judas’ life and death. Now some denominations believe that you can pray a person out of purgatory or Hell, though I do not think it is Biblical, still, thinking about Judas, I truly wished that were true. For some unknown reason, I began sobbing for this man’s life and how the devil used him, and asked the Lord why was I so focused on his heart and eternal place at this moment. The answer didn’t come, but the need to study Judas was driven further into my soul.

Just who is this man we know as Judas? Why did he betray Jesus? He was written about in all four gospels, and in Acts, so there is a decent amount of narrative about his time as a disciple, but with limited information to deduce who he was and why.

Here is what we know:
A. Jesus hand-selected his top 12 disciples after praying intently about who they should be. In every written account of his choosing those disciples, Judas Iscariot is always mentioned last. It identifies him as the ‘one who betrayed Jesus’, or ‘the one who was going to betray Jesus’, or ‘the traitor’. Yet, Jesus still chose him. (Would you if you knew what that person would do to you?)
B. He was the son of Simon Iscariot.
C. He was the treasurer of the group; he controlled and handled the money bag. Jesus gave him this responsibility in spite of knowing Judas was greedy and a thief.
D. He walked with Jesus and witnessed/observed all of the miracles recorded for 3 years! These include blind men receiving their sight, the deaf now hear, water turned into wine, lepers being healed, demons were cast out, 2x thousands of men and women were fed with a few loaves and a couple of fish, the lame and crippled now walk, Jesus walking on the water and calming the storm, etc. etc. So how did he not recognize and accept that Jesus was truly the living, breathing, Son God? If he did, his actions did not indicate that.
E. He was sent out by Jesus in a group of 2 to proclaim the gospel and was given authority to heal the sick and cast out demons.
F. He ate and drank regularly with Jesus and the other disciples in close proximity with many conversations.
G. He heard all of Jesus’ teachings and parables, and their explanations, as well as the predictions of Judas’ betrayal and Jesus’ consequent death!
H. His bad decision to betray Jesus leading to Jesus’ death was predicted 29x in John alone!
I. He called Jesus “Rabbi” which means Teacher, but did not call him Lord.
J. He was not a genuine, true believer in who Jesus was, in spite of witnessing everything.
K. Judas was vulnerable as he was not a committed believer in Jesus. So Satan entered into him. Judas went to the chief priests as he had heard they were trying to arrest Jesus, and asked them, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” They agreed to 30 pieces of silver, equal to about 4 months of a laborer’s wage. The plot to kill Jesus intensifies.
L. He regularly stole from the disciples’ money bag.
M. He was angry that expensive ointment was ‘wasted’ (his words) on Jesus rather than sold and ‘given to the poor’. Yeah, I think he just wanted it for himself.
N. He sought an ‘opportune time’ to betray Jesus. What I discovered is that in Luke 4:13, when Jesus was being tested in the wilderness, it says about Satan, “…he departed from him until an ‘opportune time’.” Well, I guess this was it!
O. Jesus still washed his feet, even though Judas was spiritually ‘unclean’.
P. Satan entered Judas again (another opportune time) after Jesus handed him the dipped bread during the Last Supper.
Q. He went out into the night to betray his Rabbi Jesus. (The darkness had overtaken him.)
R. He led the crowd of soldiers and priests to arrest Jesus as their guide.
S. He knew of the Garden of Gethsemane as the disciples met with Jesus there often.
T. He kissed Jesus as a friend would customarily greet another, yet this was done to show who he was betraying. He said, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.”
U. Judas had turned aside from Jesus’ ministry and friendship to serve himself and his desires.
V. And yet, Jesus loved him to the end.
W. Judas realized his sin and Jesus’ innocence so he tried to return the silver pieces, aka the blood money.
X. When the Priests would not accept it back, he threw it down, ran out, and hanged himself in a field. He then fell and burst open in the middle with his bowels gushing out.
Y. This field was aptly named “Field of Blood”.
Z. Though Judas changed his mind after the fact about betraying Jesus, having admitted his sin and regretted having done it, he did not repent of it. Instead, he chose to commit suicide by hanging himself.

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus’ trust by stealing their money; he sold out Jesus’ friendship by betraying him, and shunned his Lordship by not believing in Him after all that he had witnessed while being in Jesus’ close-knit circle.

But what did Jesus have to say about Judas, his soon-to-be-betrayer, yet his chosen and loved disciple?
“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.”
“Did I not choose you the 12, yet one of you is a devil.”
“Not all of you are clean. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”
“Judas, what you are going to do, do quickly.”
“Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

Judas was a son of Simon Iscariot, he was called by Jesus, he was a disciple, a treasurer, an observer, greedy, a thief, an unbeliever, unclean, a traitor, a betrayer, the Son of Destruction, unrepentant, and a devil (all references to him are in Scripture). He ultimately did not receive Jesus, therefore he did not receive the Father. He desperately needed Jesus to be his Savior, but he was blinded by greed; therefore he could not fully commit nor personally believe in Jesus’ mercy or grace.

Simultaneously, as Judas is betraying Jesus, Peter is about to do his own denying of who Jesus was to him. Both men ultimately sinned against Jesus, as He had predicted, but their responses to said sin is vastly different:
Judas recognized his sin, had regrets, and committed suicide over it. He couldn’t bear his own guilt.
Peter recognized his sin, had regrets, and repented over it, realizing that Jesus bore his guilt and forgave him. Afterwards, he lived by teaching and preaching, making more disciples, and eventually died as a martyr for his faith in Jesus.

It is a matter of the heart.

We all can relate to having a good friend or family member turn their back on us, lie about us, or stab us in the back. I know I can. Years ago, a dear friend betrayed me, basically had turned her back on our friendship of several years. I didn’t know why for MANY years! Eventually I learned that it wasn’t from anything I had done, but circumstances in her own life that made her push close friends and family away. Later with the help of Jesus, she conquered those issues, and we are joyously reconciled.

I guess the Lord thought another example was necessary here – to share my shortcomings in order to encourage you in this area. Today, after I thought I had completed this post, I went for a walk on one of my regular paths in the woods. As I have mentioned before, this path changes directions each day so that bike riders face the opposite of the walkers/runners for safety reasons. I checked out the sign to be certain I had the proper direction, and off I went. Soon, I heard the unmistakable sound of a bike being pedaled behind me. Frustrated with this person for going the wrong way, I wanted to say, “You’re going the wrong way!”, but instead I politely chose to say, “I guess one of us is going the wrong way.” I continued on, thinking about Judas and how Jesus still chose to respond kindly and generously to him. Suddenly a jogger came towards me, going my opposite direction, when we should have been the same. That’s when it hit me: I had the wrong day! I thought it was Thursday when it is Friday! So, I was 100% wrong.

Well, now to try and correct my mistake. I came to an area where the inner portion of the path I was on is near the outer portion, so I quickly crossed to the other part of the trail and smiled. I had fixed my mistake. Or had I? Nope. All I had done was take a shortcut from one part to another part, but I was still going the same, wrong direction.

This is what repentance is: to change your direction 180 degrees; to make a U-turn. Had I done that? No, all I had done was take a shortcut. That did not solve the problem as I was still going the wrong direction. The same goes for Judas. He took a shortcut with his dilemma of having sinned against the Lord, and instead of repenting, he quit life and hung himself. Judas was blindly but blatantly wrong for turning Jesus in. Even still, he could have overcome this evil urge and repented had he previously listened with open ears to Jesus’ teachings, believed who He was with his own eyes having seen all of the miracles, and did as Peter would do by trusting what Jesus taught them about forgiveness.

What will you do if you are betrayed? Will you gossip about them? Will you harbor hurt and unforgiveness? Or, will you love that person and forgive them? Will you pray for them?

Maybe you are that person who has betrayed or turned on your friend or family? Have you sought forgiveness, or are you in the depths of guilt and despair, and don’t see a way up?

There is nothing that you will do or have done that Jesus won’t forgive you for. In fact, He knows what you’ve done or haven’t done yet, and He is ready and waiting to talk with you about it; with a heart of love, with a gentle, open hand offering friendship, and a declaration of forgiveness that extends as far as the east is from the west!

Fun facts “Judas” means ‘Praised’. It is the Greek form of “Judah”. The name Judas is still used today, though it is not as common. There was another disciple named Judas; this name does not only imply a traitor, but also one who is faithful.

Food for thought: Does this seemingly small thing of betraying Jesus and not repenting mean Judas was unsaved and will not go to heaven? I mean, he was given authority to do miracles, he walked with Jesus, he sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to all of his teachings, he shared in the Last Supper… He wasn’t the one who nailed him to the cross or had him crucified, but he did have a role in it – It was foretold and predicted. Satan our enemy found his opportune time in Judas’ greed and doubt to destroy and kill Jesus. But, it was just the beginning….

Photo by: Kari Wiseman – Praying Mantis Silhouette
(This mantis is taking an opportune time at night, to pray! Perhaps for his enemies, or perhaps for his prey..)

Scripture references about Judas Iscariot are:
Matthew 10:4, 26:14-16,47-54, 27:1-10
Mark 3:19, 14:1-2,10-11,17-21,42-50
Luke 6:16, 22:2-6,21-22,47-48,54
John 6:64,70-71, 11:57, 12:3-8, 13:1-3, 10-11,17-19,21-31, 17:12, 18:2-5
Acts: 1:16-20,25