Judas

Was Judas the bad guy we all think he was?

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified." Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, "Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people." Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, "Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her." Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I betray him to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. - Matt. 26:1-16

The way Matthew tells it, we get the impression that the early Christians after Jesus' death and Resurrection, saw Judas as corrupt.

The evidence seems to confirm that, given he sold the intel to the Romans to have Jesus arrested. 

So, we can see that they blamed him for Jesus' capture and death.  And to show that he had motive, we have this comment about feeding the poor.

I might have been confused too.  Jesus talked constantly about giving up everything and helping those in need.  So, why come down on Judas for feeling this was a luxury that was out of character for Jesus?

Was it the straw that broke the camel's back, causing Jidas to give up Jesus?  I don't think so.  I think it was added here to show us that Judas had his sights on the money.

I find that hard to believe as well.

Nowhere else do we hear of Judas saying anything that would lead one to believe he couldn't be trusted with the treasury. We do hear that the Temple Priests and Scribes couldn't be trusted.

So, I think Matthew is trying to justify why Judas would act this way.  And I'm not buying what he came up with.

If Judas only cared about the money and not about Jesus, he wouldn't have killed himself afterward.

Maybe we do need to look elsewhere for an explanation.

And that could be the point of this story, or at least the reflection.  Don't assume what you see is the whole story.  It may not be.

More to come...