Judas Seeks To Betray Jesus In Return for Silver (26:14-16).
The overflowing love and generosity of the woman contrasts vividly with the behaviour of Judas. Here was one of the chosen twelve whose heart was so hardened that he would sell Jesus for far less than the woman had sacrificed out of love for Jesus. While she was identifying herself with Jesus fully in the light of His coming death, Judas was trying to find a way out of his commitment to his own financial advantage.
The impression given in all the Gospels is that Judas betrayed Jesus for financial gain, and that can hardly be doubted. But we still have to consider what changed him so as to make him make such a move. It was not just the result of momentary greed, and Jesus would not originally have chosen him had He not thought that he was genuine, even though He did then possibly begin to have doubts about him (John 6:70), although at that point Jesus might have been aware that He would be betrayed by one of His Apostles, without knowing exactly which one, John's added note being an ‘after the event' one. There must therefore certainly have been a lessening of his original commitment. In the context we can in fact spot a number of possible additional motives.
* The first was that Jesus Himself had declared that He was shortly to be handed over and crucified. This was probably a very different end to the one that Judas had envisaged when he had ‘signed on', and it probably brought to his mind Jesus' indication that this might also be the way in which they would all end up, for they had all been told to ‘take up their crosses' (Matthew 16:24). Now that that seemed to be becoming a literal reality the prospect was suddenly not appealing.
* He had also heard Jesus declare that what the woman had done had been as an anointing for His burial, which had further confirmed the seriousness of Jesus' earlier words. It was clear that danger was looming ever closer. Possibly it was time to get out.
* He may well also have been offended and appalled at Jesus' acceptance of the woman's extravagance, and His subsequent gentle rebuke. It seemingly did not tie in with his own way of thinking. It might have seemed to him that it went against all that Jesus had previously taught them, something which at a time when his mind was in turmoil helped to push him over the edge.
* He may also have resented the fact that the ‘waste' of the perfumed oil had prevented him from getting his own hands on what was to him a fairly substantial sum of money.
* He was also seemingly aware of the attitudes of the chief priests and elders. Here were the very leaders of Judaism firmly in opposition to Jesus, and seemingly about to win.
* He might also have felt that all the talk on every side appeared to be of death. Perhaps then it made him so disillusioned that he had sunk into deep depression (which would help to explain his later suicide). It might have seemed to him as though Jesus was about to be removed without having accomplished anything Messianic, and that they were all going to be left with nothing substantial having been gained. So the question may well have arisen in his mind as to how he could extricate himself from the situation as profitably as possible. He would consider that he had, after all, sacrificed a lot for the cause and it was surely time that it gave him something back. Besides if Jesus was so certain that He was going to die (and His hunches were usually right) how could he lose if he switched to the other side? And what difference would it make whether it was brought about by him or by someone else? After all once Jesus was gone there was clearly going to be no cause worth following.
* Additionally to this John tells us that he had begun to misappropriate funds (John 12:6). If that were so then it explains why his moral inhibitions had become weakened. One sin always leads to another.
We can, of course, never be sure precisely what made Judas do what he did. The only thing that we finally know is that he did it.
Analysis.
a Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, “What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver Him to you?” (14-15a).
b And they weighed to him thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15 b).
a And from that time he sought the opportunity to deliver Him to them (Matthew 26:16).
Note that in ‘a' Judas speaks of delivering Him up, and in the parallel seeks ways of delivering Him up. Central in the construction is the great emphasis placed on ‘and they weighed to Him thirty pieces of silver'. It brings out that Judas' God was Mammon, and that that was all both he and the Chief Priests thought Jesus was worth.