Bob wanted some guidance from God, so he opened his Bible and let his eyes fall on the first verse he saw.  He landed on the story of Judas.  It said, “He went away and hanged himself” – Matt 27:5. (NASU)  Bob said to himself “This can’t be right!”  So, he tried again.  This time he landed on John 13:27, “What you do, do quickly.”

This is the time of year when we consider the story of Judas.  Ah sad Judas, the apostate apostle who has never had a child named after him. 

The forever unanswered Judas’ question is, “Why’d he do it?”  Why did he betray his Master?  There are two common theories. 

1. He was motivated by greed. 

When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with oil, Judas said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold for 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor?”

The reason he said it, follows, “Now Judas said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, he used to steal what was put into it” – John 12:5-6.  He was entrusted with the apostolic group fund and helped himself to it.

So, there are those that argue that greedy Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver to line his own pockets.   But there is a second theory:

2. He was motivated by patriotic zeal. 

The prophets promised that the Messiah would restore the nation of Israel to the stature of David’s glory days.  The Jews of the first century were expecting it to happen in their day.

There was even a political association called “zealots” that was determined to force the Kingdom into existence.   Simon, one of the twelve, was a zealot (Matthew 10:4).

And then came Jesus who presented Himself as Messiah.  His message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!”  – Matthew 4:17. His teachings centered around the Kingdom of God.  The disciples often competed for the positions of authority in it (Matt 20:20-24).

On one occasion the multitude got crazy.  John wrote, “Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone” – John 6:15.

At His triumphal entry, the crowd was convinced that Jesus was coming to proclaim himself king.  But things were not progressing toward that end.  The entrenched leadership of Israel had rejected Him and Jesus was not aggressive about seizing leadership.  He had business at the cross to take care of first.

Some believe that Judas was also a zealot and that in betraying Jesus, he tried to create a situation where Jesus would be forced to confront His adversaries and establish His Kingdom.    

Why’d Judas do it?  Which one fits?  I wonder if both may be true. 

Judas was clearly motivated by greed.  He used his position of trust to steal funds from Jesus.  So, what if the Kingdom were to come?    The disciples were promised to rule with Jesus.  Judas probably expected to be installed as the royal treasurer of the Kingdom where he would have fantastic and unfettered access to wealth.

Who knows for sure why he did it?  Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” – 17:9 (NASU).

But what concerns me is the condition of my own Judas heart.  For I fear that I too may possess quirky motivations that obscure the truth and possibly spoil my love for Jesus? 

David felt the same, which prompted this prayer, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer” – Psalm 19:14.

He asked the Lord to do a heart procedure – to purify the meditations and motivations of His heart.  A perfect prayer for you and me, especially during this Easter Season.

A Prayer:  Lord, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight…”,

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you

Scripture passages are from the NETBible.com unless otherwise noted.