Judas was the group’s treasurer. He carried the purse, the money bag, for Jesus and all of the disciples that followed him. Aside from his final choice to betray Jesus, that is about all that we definitively know about him.
Judas was specifically chosen by Jesus to be one of his disciples. Jesus, in fact, at the point that he chose Judas, knew that Judas would betray him. I would even, therefore, make the assumption that Jesus would have put Judas in charge of the group’s money on purpose. Would Jesus have known that this would have been a significant temptation to Judas, thus even allowing him to take money from the treasury? It is speculation, but I would presume the answer to that question to be Yes.
Judas played an important part in God’s plan that Jesus would be betrayed. He would be used to carry out the plan to kill Jesus as an innocent sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.
Luke 22:3-6
Yet the instrument for Judas’s betrayal was his love for money. At a certain point, possibly because he was disillusioned with how Jesus was carrying through his role as the Messiah – coming as a servant instead of a ruler, refusing political power – Judas decides to take money for betraying the Messiah, the Son of God. He loved money, taking 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus, and we can imagine that he dreamed of what it could buy him. Judas loved the things of this world and what those things could give him. He may have even loved the power that he could project or the fame that he could acquire with the funds that he received. He wanted all of those things even more than he wanted Jesus.
He enjoyed the idea of a fortune, and possibly fame and power more than Jesus, more than God himself.
And so the story of Judas and the choices that he makes, leading him ultimately to betray Jesus, leads us to another challenge and important questions for each of us: For what are we living? What is it that we enjoy? Do we enjoy, and do we live day to day, for the things of this world? Or do we enjoy and live for the kingdom of God, and the king himself, king Jesus?
It is easy to think that we are not like Judas. We wouldn’t want to think of ourselves betraying the king of the universe. However, money is an easy trap. It is easy to be jealous of what others have and think about what we can do to get it. It is easy to think that we would love to have just a little bit more. Even if we don’t believe that we want to be rich, we can still find ourselves making small compromises because of the trap that has been set with us with money.
We must decide where we will find our joy, our enjoyment in life. We must decide in what, or better said, in whom, we will find our true riches. Are we rich because we have money, that which will pass away and that we can enjoy for only a few years during our time here on earth? Or will we find ourselves to be rich in our relationship with Christ, enjoying him and the life that he gives us, both now and in eternity? As Judas showed us, we cannot do both. We cannot love both God and money. We must choose whom, or what, we will love. We must choose in whom, or in what, we will find our joy.
