Holy Week, Day 2

/ japfth

Tuesday. This was the day Judas Iscariot made his damning deal. He conspired with the Sanhedrin to betray the Lord Jesus. Betrayal is perhaps the ugliest of sins. It reveals a toxic love of self over and against and in spite of goodness and beauty, truth and righteousness.

Even Dante in his Inferno pictures Judas in the ninth circle of damnation, along with Cassius and Brutus (among others), as men who betrayed royalty.

But Judas didn’t betray just any royalty. Judas betrayed the holy one, the righteous one, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the one who came, and bled, and died, and gave his life as a ransom for many–the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 20:28, ESV).

Here’s the way Matthew describes part of Judas’ treachery on Tuesday of Holy Week:

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him (Mt 26:14-16, ESV).

I know of no one who names his/her son Judas. The name causes a bilious reaction of the normal person’s conscience. But Judases are still with us. There’s no paucity of those whose god is money, power, or applause from wicked men. There’s no lack of that type at all.

The marvel of it all is that Jesus knew Judas through and through, and still went to the cross.

This is why we should never get over verses like this one: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, ESV).

Christ died for us, the ungodly ones.

And this year, may we go forward yet again, heralding that same message: “Come, ye sinners, poor and needy.”

4 thoughts on “Holy Week, Day 2”

  1. Even for Judas, Jesus died! Don’t you believe that even Judas just might be in heaven? All he had to do was repent and turn away from his sin. Who is to say that as he was dyeing he might have asked for Jesus’s forgiveness. Don’t you believe that he would have been forgiven? I’m still wondering! He would have to accept the salvation freely offered. Some thoughts just wander into my head of their own volition. BTW, I am enjoying my copy of The Valley of Vision.

    Henry

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    • Good questions, brother. I think the testimony from Scripture indicates that Judas was damned.

      Here are just some of the passages from Scripture (my reasons) for my saying that.

      They are from the lips of Christ himself: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but 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” (Mt 26:24, ESV).

      And there’s Jesus again in John 6: “But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:64-65, ESV).

      When we compare all of the passages in Scripture with Scripture, it is difficult (for me at least) to make the case that Judas was a redeemed man.

      All instances in Scripture seem to me to teach that he was of Satan’s party, that he chose to betray the Lord, that he was a schemer/plotter, that he was not a true believer, and that the fruit of his life was one in which money was one of his gods, and that Jesus even told him (Judas) to do what you came for, i.e., to reveal his black heart of betrayal and wickedness. He was in love with money, and he seems (to me at least, based upon all of Scripture) to be the one to whom Jesus said it would have been better for him (Judas) to never even have been born than to betray God the Son.

      If Judas had repented prior to his suicide, one would think God would have included that in Scripture, as I would think that would be pretty significant and contradict every other passage we have about Judas Iscariot.

      As to ‘The Valley of Vision’ if I could have only (5) books with me on the proverbial island, that would be one of the five. Enjoy!

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      • I believe you have taken away any thoughts I might have had about Judas’s heart. I have read all the scripture references you made several times and just knew in my heart and mind that my wondering were way off base. I sure hope you have a good week remembering that we are weak and trusting in you to help us keep Satan’s minions at bay. I do love you brother.

        Henry

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