A CHAPTER IN HUMAN BIOGRAPHY
‘Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.’
There is an awful and fascinating interest about the history of Judas; he stands in such a fearful solitude, his sin is so terribly unique, that the mind is irresistibly drawn to him.
I. Early opportunity.—Called to be an apostle. Separated from the world to be a companion of Christ, and a witness of His work and sufferings. Sharing too in the prayers of Christ (see St. Luke 6:12-13).
II. Growth in evil.—Much of Christ’s teaching must have been given in the presence of Judas—teaching as to greed, covetousness, heaping up riches. This was a part of his discipline. (But see St. John 6:64-71.) Here he is taught that he is seen through; the end is put before him; and he is warned. This is the turning point: he shook off the good, he cherished the evil (St. John 12:1-6). The scene in that house. Mary’s gratitude at the restoration of her brother, and the way she shows it. Judas looking on. His hypocritical pretext. St. John brands it with the indelible mark of truth and shame—‘he was a thief.’
III. The price of a soul.— The supper (St. John 13). The feet-washing. His feet washed by Christ. ‘One of you shall betray me.’ They said, ‘Is it I?’ Judas said, ‘Is it I?’ The sop. Satan entered into him. ‘It was night.’ The compact (St. Matthew 26:14-16). He was now urged on by a maddening impulse. ‘What will ye give me?’ Thirty pieces of silver—about £3. 16s. Absurd, some say, to suppose he really meant to betray Christ for such a sum. That, however, is a very shallow view of human life, for souls fetch in the devil’s market what they are worth, and less than £3. 16s. will sometimes buy us, if we are living far from Christ.
IV. The end.— The betrayal (St. John 18:2-5). Judas knew Gethsemane. Value of his plan to the priests, i.e. a quiet betrayal, avoiding risk of popular tumult. The kiss. Remorse (St. Matthew 27:3-5). The morning had come. Evil deeds before and after commission. But even then had he gone to God to confess his sin, he would not have been turned away. But in remorse, not repentance, he went to man. They turned on him, saying, ‘What is that to us? See thou to that.’ Death (Acts 1:18-25; with St. Matthew 27:5). ‘He went and hanged himself.’ The account in Acts 1:18-25 supplemental to these words. To his ‘own’ place, his own by the acts of a responsible agent, free to reject the good, free to choose the evil. He went to ‘the place’ for which the life had prepared him. And his judgment is with God.
The sentence of the Master upon the life and its work is this, ‘It were better for this man that he had never been born.’