There is a name that to us is synonymous with betrayal and that is the name Judas Iscariot. The act of betrayal by Judas Iscariot reaches the depths of the depravity of man. It reveals the insane destructiveness of the sinful practices of man combined with the influences of Satan himself. The sinless Son of God sold for the price of a slave by one of his own disciples. The darkness of this act will never be matched in all of mans history, but there are lessons to be learned even from this treachery.
I believe that this dark account gives to us some lessons not only about ourselves, but about God. In this first installment on the life of Judas we will learn some lessons from Judas about the nature of man.
Hypocrisy is a mask that is difficult to remove. (Jn 12:1-8; Jn 13:21-30)
When we examine the life of Judas Iscariot we find that he was a chosen disciple just like the rest of them. We also discover that it was not obvious to the others that Judas was the one that was going to betray Jesus Christ. This tells us that Judas became an expert at hypocrisy and died in his hypocrisy. Judas saw all of the miracles that the others saw, he heard all of the teaching that the others heard, he traveled with Jesus for basically the entirety of his earthly ministry. He was with Jesus and yet he did not believe in Jesus. He had so convinced the others of his dedication to Jesus that they entrusted him with the money for the group and only later did the disciples find out that he was stealing from them. This dark, evil wickedness was hidden behind the mask of a disciple. Judas was given power to do miracles and minister for Jesus. He most likely spoke for Christ and testified that this was the Messiah. Every external appearance of Judas fit in with the ones that loved and served Jesus, and yet Judas did not love or really serve Jesus.
Friends, the terror of the example of this disciple should grip us. You can look like you love Jesus. You can come to church and look like you worship Jesus. You can have the appearances of serving Jesus and it may seem like you listen to teaching about Jesus. And yet, behind the mask sin and Satan control your heart, mind and life. When you really get down to who you are at your core, then there is nothing but deceit and darkness. You may be good at deceiving others, but you don’t really love Jesus, you just love for people to think that you love Jesus. You don’t really desire to sit and learn from Jesus, you just want other to think you do. Your hypocrisy masks what you hope no one will ever find out, you want to do only what brings you pleasure and satisfies what you want. I want to assure you of something, when you allow your sinful desires to have continual control of your life, you open yourself up to Satanic control. Satan controls people who continually live according to their own self-fulfilling desires.
Eph. 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (emphasis mine)
You can not say that you are a disciple of Christ and keep stealing. You can not say that you are a disciple of Christ and keep lying. You can not say that you are a disciple of Christ and love yourself and your own way more than Christ and His way. Judas wore the mask all the way to the end when his own desires destroyed him. Are you living in hypocrisy? What sin are you not only hiding, but continually practicing? What do you hope no one will ever find out? Do you just appear to love God or are there real demonstrations of loving God? The mask of hypocrisy is difficult to remove, but the grace of God can forgive the deepest and darkest of all sinners, if there will be a recognition of sin and turning from it. Judas was a disciple and he was not saved. How many of us are Christian church members, faithful servants, deacons, Sunday school teachers, Christian blog readers, or God-fearing people, that do not have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ alone. If it was simply what you did that earned you salvation, then Judas would have been saved, but it is not what you do that saves you, it is what Christ has done that will save you.
The love of money is the root of all evil
What sin specifically drove Judas to do what he did? I believe it was the sin of the love of money. Paul tells us in
1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil.
Judas loved something more than Jesus. Here was one that saw the literal Jesus. He witnessed His miracles, and heard His teaching and yet he loved money more than Jesus and he used his position as the treasurer of the disciples to fulfill his lust for money. His mask of hypocrisy was glued to his face with money. Greed drove him to betray the one who could have saved him and embrace the one who would destroy him. Luke 22 tells us that Satan entered into Judas, and it was not the entry of the wicked one into an innocent soul. This was the invitation of a greedy one whose soul was black with self-fulfillment and whose life rife with sin. This was the one in whom sinful passions were alive and active. People do not just snap and then do bad things, there is preparation that takes place before to bring the heart to that level. It may be hidden from the eyes of everyone else, but there is something happening in the heart and mind of those that commit horrible sins before they commit them. Greed had gripped Judas. He was disillusioned with Jesus and did not like the talk of giving up everything here to lay up treasures in heaven. He despised taking up his own cross to follow Christ. There was no comforts for a disciple of Jesus, and therefore he stole to gain those comforts.
How easy is it for us to have the heart of Judas. We will make any sacrifice to be able to make more money or have nicer things or be more comfortable, when the call of discipleship is a call to forsake those things for eternal pleasures. How easy is it for us to love money more than Jesus? When we love our money more than Jesus we are doing what Judas did? Does that make you sick? Does that shock you and horrify you? If it does not then you should be afraid because I believe that as much as we would all say that we despise Judas for betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver some of us do it for much less.
Good stuff, Jason, Glad to see you writing again.
I am excited about installment two concerning Christ.
God certainly sees through the facades and knows which hearts are engulfed in darkness.
The contrast of light and darkness is a big theme in John’s Gospel.
Another big theme in the Gospel is the exposure by the Christ of pseudo belief in people. He knows men’s hearts.
Matt. Thanks for the kind words. Glad to be writing again. Pray that I will be consistent.
Todd. Your right about the contrast of light and darkness in the gospel of John. This contrast carries over into the epistles of John and is quite convicting. There is no darkness in God and the light of God exposes the darkness of the human soul. We can not claim to be light while doing deeds of darkness. It is instructional to follow that theme through John’s writings. It is glorious to see it as well in Revelation. When John sees Jesus he writes that His face was like the sin shining in full strength (1:16).
Dear Jason,
Say, I’ve run across the assertion (I forget where) that Judas “got on the bandwagon” of Jesus in hopes of being raised to prominence in His rising “administration.” He believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and everyone in that day assumed that the Messiah would overthrow Rome and re-establish Jerusalem as Israel’s and then the world’s capitol. Judas latched on for the ride to the top.
But when in the final days his creeping suspicions that Jesus wasn’t going to demolish Israel’s enemies and take the throne were clearly validated by Jesus’ definitive statement about His suffering and death, Judas had had enough. He decided it was time to check out before he endangered his own skin. It was then that he went to the authorities and snitched on Jesus.
But deep down, Judas was a follower of Jesus only for what he could get out of the equation. He sought esteem, aggrandizement, respect, appreciation, social status, and the strokes that being “religious” afforded him. His world absolutely and totally collapsed, when he realized that Jesus wasn’t going to make him Secretary of the Tresury in the kingdom, and further, that the perks he reveled in as a disciple were nothing more than excruciatingly superficial.
To me, that “psychoanalysis” of Iscariot ties all the pieces together, and penetrates right to my heart – why, oh why really, do I do the Christian thing, and purport to follow Jesus?
Jon
Jon
Excellent evaluation. I think you are absolutely correct. Judas was primarily following Jesus for what he could get out of it. He had to mask these selfish desires with hypocrisy that increased as the days went on. As his disillusionment increased his hypocrisy increased culminating in the betrayal of Jesus. In some respects I think that all of the disciples had a little of this selfishness in them. The arguments about who would be greatest in the kingdom would support this I believe. The difference, I believe, is given to us in the theme of John. Believe. As Judas’ disillusionment was increasing the others belief was increasing. It obviously was unstable and sometimes even misdirected until the giving of the Spirit.
The applications of this like you said are crushing. To see Judas-like characteristics in my own heart is repulsing and reminds me of my absolute dependence on the transforming work of Christ’s grace in my heart.
Thanks again for the great input.