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Matthew 27:1-10
Judas Hangs Himself
1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3When 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.”
5So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9Then 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, 10and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
For most of my time in ministry, I avoided preaching on this story or writing Reflections on it. Obviously, it’s kind of depressing – even in the context of the passion and death of Jesus. It’s awful enough that humankind tortured and murdered God in the form of Jesus, and it makes it even worse that one of his own disciples betrayed him.
It has to be said that the followers of Jesus aren’t really of one mind about what to think about Judas. His name has gone down in history as a byword for betrayal. Nobody wants to be called a ‘Judas.’ But some theologians – and even ordinary Christians – say we’re too hard on Judas. They say it was necessary for Jesus to die for our sins, and Judas was really just a ‘bit player’ in those tragic events.
Some readers might remember me mentioning a thought-provoking sermon series about Judas. It was entitled The Trial of Judas Iscariot, preached thirty years ago by one of my mentors, the late Bruce Wheeler Thielemann. In Part Two, ‘The Defense,’ Bruce recounted claims by some scholars that Judas believed Jesus would never allow himself to be seized by the Jewish authorities. Those scholars suggest that Judas thought his action would ‘force Jesus’ hand,’ and cause him to launch a holy war that would lead to the establishment of the heavenly kingdom.
That’s not the majority view, of course, and Bruce’s sermons ultimately arrived at a ‘guilty’ verdict for Judas. But nobody expected the Messiah to be anything like Jesus, so it’s conceivable that Judas might have had less sinister motives than we usually think. After all, most of the Jews expected the Messiah to lead a holy war to drive out the Romans and the gentiles from the land.
But whatever Judas’ motives might have been, there are a couple of things about this story we should think about.
First of all, Matthew’s account of the fate of Judas makes a number of connections to the prophesies of the Old Testament, and especially to the prophets Jeremiah and Zechariah. As you might remember, the Gospel of Matthew is understood to have been written with a Jewish audience in mind. So Matthew took great pains to show the connections between the life and death of Jesus and the history and prophesies of the Hebrew people. He pointed out that some startlingly accurate details of the story, including the thirty pieces of silver, can be found in the eleventh chapter of Zechariah. That chapter foretells the return of the pieces of silver by throwing them into the temple, and also the use of the money to buy the Potter’s Field as a burial place for gentiles.
So, as he does in so many of the events of Jesus’ life and death, Matthew points to the connections between his betrayal by Judas and corresponding events in the history and prophesies of Israel.
The other aspect of this story that seems especially interesting to me is the question of why Judas tragically kills himself after betraying Jesus, while Peter is forgiven for denying him. Christian thought has traditionally said that the sin of Judas was more serious than the sin of Peter, but not so fast, I think.
It seems to me the real difference is that Judas surrendered to despair and essentially gave up. On the other hand, Peter stayed with the other disciples. Imagine if Judas had gone back – imagine the argument between the two men about whose sin was worse. Judas could have said, “I was mistaken, but you denied him to save your own skin!” Maybe the difference was that Peter made himself available for forgiveness and rehabilitation as an apostle. Maybe the greatest sin of Judas was to lose faith in Jesus’ willingness to forgive.
Remember that Jesus said there is only one unforgiveable sin – blaspheming against the Holy Spirit – and there’s no sign in the gospels that Judas was guilty of that. So, sadly, he seems to have destroyed himself when the possibility of forgiveness was still available to him. Maybe that’s why a betrayer is called a ‘Judas’ but a denier isn’t called a ‘Peter.’
This seems to me like more than just a debate among Bible scholars. How many people in the last 2,000 years have been so consumed with a sense of their own sinfulness that they’ve turned away from God? How many have failed to embrace the new life available to them because of the death of Jesus?
We may all know some people who fall into that category. So it’s probably a part of our calling as disciples to remind them that God loves them in spite of their sins, and stands ready to welcome them home as returning children. Let’s resolve to help others embrace the new life Peter received, and escape the despair that might have been Judas’ greatest sin.
Let’s pray. Lord, guard us against despairing of our own shortcomings, as people and as disciples, and use us as messengers of your love and forgiveness in the lives of those who are desperate to receive them. Amen.
Have a great weekend, and worship God joyfully on Sunday!
Henry
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