Matthew 26:6-16; 27:-10 - Judas Iscariot: Not My Messiah but the Son of God? - March 9, 2022

From the perspective of believers, those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), unbelief is always a mystery. We have difficulty comprehending why anyone would reject the free gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation. But Judas Iscariot’s unbelief is a special kind of mystery. Jesus had personally called Judas to faith and to join his inner circle as an apostle (Luke 6:16). He had been with Jesus for three years, an eyewitness of his miracles and preaching. And after all of that…he betrayed Jesus to his enemies for thirty pieces of silver. Afterwards, he was so filled with remorse that he ended his own life. His betrayal was no worse than Peter’s denial (Luke 22:54-62) – not in the eyes of God (Romans 3:23), but Peter repented and lived while Judas despaired and died. It’s a mystery that almost defies explanation.

One issue we have in understanding Judas Iscariot is that we don’t know very much about him. Matthew, Mark and Luke all refer to him as the one who had betrayed [Jesus] in their gospels (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16). John revealed that he was the apostolic treasurer who was also a thief (John 12:5-6). Beyond that, we don’t know much for sure. His surname, Iscariot, potentially offers a bit more information. Bible scholars are divided on what this name means. Some identify it as a reference to Judas’ hometown, that he was “Judas of Kerioth” – a town in southern Judea. Others argue that “Iscariot” is derived from the word sicarii – a reference to the kind of short, easily concealed sword that radical Jewish Zealots carried. These Zealots were revolutionaries who wanted to get rid of the Roman colonial rule by force. It’s likely that Barabbas, the man the crowd chose to have released over Jesus, was one of these Zealots (Luke 23:19). If this is true, we can venture an educated guess as to why Judas rejected Jesus as his Messiah.

Like most Jews, the Zealots were longing for the promised Messiah. However, they were waiting for the wrong kind of Messiah. The Zealots were fierce nationalists who believed God had promised to send a Messiah who would reestablish the physical kingdom of David. In their minds the Messiah would bring liberation from political oppression, economic prosperity and a restoration of pure worship to the Jews. They longed for the “glory days” of David and Solomon and were willing to fight to get them back.

At first, it may have appeared to some that Jesus was this kind of Messiah. He fulfilled all of the OT prophecies. His miracles proved that he was someone who could conquer Satan, sickness, and even death itself with only a word or touch. He was a powerful speaker who could gather a crowd. But three years into his campaign it was clear that he was not training or recruiting an army; no sabotage or assassinations were being planned. After three years, it may have dawned on Judas that Jesus was never going to start a revolution against Rome. People often try to divine Judas’ motive for selling Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver, the price set by God in the OT for a slave who has been killed (Exodus 21:32). Some think he was trying to force Jesus’ hand – compelling him to instigate an uprising in order to avoid imprisonment or death. Others think that Judas considered Jesus to be a phony, so he was going to cut his losses and get what he could out of it. But Scripture forbids us to judge motives (1 Corinthians 4:5) – and, in the end, what difference would it make, even if we did know? In other words, the point is not why Judas did what he did; the point is that Judas did what he did: he betrayed Jesus. For one reason or another, he was not the kind of Messiah Judas was waiting for.

That problem wasn’t unique to Judas. After feeding the 5000, when the people were ready to crown him their “bread” king (earthly king) Jesus literally ran for the hills (John 6:15). Jesus called Peter Satan because he didn’t accept that Jesus had to suffer and die (Matthew 16:21-23). The near-constant bickering among the apostles over who was greatest was rooted in a false understanding of the kind of kingdom Jesus had come to bring (Mark 9:33-37; Luke 22:24-30). Even after his resurrection, the disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus were moping because had been hoping that Jesus had come to be their earthly Savior (Luke 24:21).

This expectation isn’t unique to the people of Jesus’ day either. I get calls and emails from community groups asking for our help in one way or another; to offer our space for their use, to help with a fundraiser, etc. When I tell them that Risen Savior exists to preach and teach the gospel, pronounce forgiveness, and administer the sacraments – they quickly lose interest; Jesus isn’t the kind of Messiah they’re looking for. It’s not just the outside world, though, is it? When we are suffering physically, financially, psychologically and emotionally – don’t we expect, demand even, Jesus to heal, to fix, to solve our earthly issues, now? And when he doesn’t, don’t we doubt his power and love. Whenever we demand Jesus to fit into a mold, a box, of our own making, we are acting no different than Judas. We are rejecting Jesus because he’s not the kind of Messiah we want. We are sinning. We need to repent.

It might be hard to believe, but we can learn something from Judas; two things actually. First, unlike Pilate, the chief priests and the crowds who shouted for Jesus’ death, he felt remorse when he realized what he had done. However, the Greek word used for Judas’ remorse (metameletheis) is not the word for true repentance (metanoeo, e.g., Matthew 3:2). Judas felt what Paul called worldly sorrow – but he lacked godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10). Luther explains true repentance in the Small Catechism, “Confession has two parts. The one is that we confess our sins; the other, that we receive absolution or forgiveness from the pastor as from God himself, not doubting but firmly believing that our sins are thus forgiven before God in heaven” (SC Confession: I). Judas certainly exhibited the first part of confession – he confessed his sin of betrayal to the chief priests and the elders, but – at least partly because those supposed spiritual leaders were merciless false teachers – he lacked the faith that his sin could be forgiven. And second, even though Judas lacked saving faith in Jesus, his words do reveal that he had changed his mind about him. He said: I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. Judas may not have trusted Jesus for forgiveness; but with his last words he added his voice to the chorus of witnesses which testify that Jesus truly is the Son of God.

Judas didn’t have to die in despair. He could have looked to Jesus and lived forever. Unbelievable as it may sound, Jesus died and paid for Judas’ sin of betrayal, too. But Judas cut himself off from Jesus, he despaired because of his sin and he died…eternally (Acts 1:25). The mystery of how this happened; how Judas could have known Jesus of Nazareth, walked with him, talked with him, witnessed his miracles and heard his teaching – but not trusted Jesus as his Messiah, his Savior – that mystery remains.

What cannot remain in our hearts or minds is any rejection of Jesus for not being the kind of Messiah we want or expect. The dark final days of Judas’ life and his eternal death are a warning to us: don’t ever, ever turn away from Jesus, not even when you think your sins have disqualified you from his love. We’ve all had those times, haven’t we? When our sins are so wicked, so haunting, so hurtful to others and offensive to God that we can’t imagine we could ever be forgiven. Satan loves to remind us of those sins to try to convince us that we are unworthy to be called children of God. He tries to drive us deep into the pit of despair.

So what can we do? Well, there are only two routes out of the pit of despair. We can take the route Judas took – to try to hide our sins, hide them from others, hide them from Jesus. We can try to get rid of Jesus; avoiding his Word and ignoring calls to repent. But that gets us nowhere. The Bible tells us that the same Jesus who knows how many hairs are on our heads (Luke 12:7) also knows what sins live in our hearts (Romans 8:27). Like Judas we can try to cover up our sin; we can try to pay for it – maybe not with 30 pieces of silver but with additional effort or striving; or we can try to drown our aching, guilty hearts in busyness or substances or even suicide – but Judas’ sad story proves that holding onto sin and guilt leads only to death – now and eternally.

So what’s the other route? What can we possibly do when the ache of sin is so deep that we can’t even look at ourselves in the mirror, much less look to God or call on him as our Father? That’s when we must look to Jesus. That’s when we need to remember that Jesus knew all along exactly what Judas was going to do and yet he called him to be his disciple and endured his betrayal anyway (Psalm 41:9), because he knew it was the only way he could fulfill his Father’s plan and pay for the sins of the world. Remember that Jesus never gave up on Judas even when he gave Jesus up to his enemies. That’s when we need to look through our tear-filled eyes to the cross to remember that Jesus really is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world (1 John 2:2). That’s when we need to remember the irrevocable promise God gave us when we were baptized, that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). That’s when we need to hear from the lips of another Christian – whether it’s a pastor, a friend, a spouse or even a child – “for Jesus’ sake, your sins are forgiven.” That’s when we need to come, crawling if we have to, up to this altar to receive the body and blood of our Lord and to hear the assurance that no matter what we have done, no matter how far we have fallen, no matter how we have betrayed our Savior – no matter what, his body was given and his blood was shed FOR YOU for the forgiveness of all of your sins!

Judas Iscariot is a cautionary tale of despair and an example of the mystery of unbelief. With his own lips he testified that Jesus was who he claimed to be: the innocent, sinless Son of God. But drawn by the devil into a pit of self-pity and despair, he rejected Jesus as his Savior, his Messiah. May Judas’ example teach us the lesson that he robbed himself of the chance to relearn: Jesus really is the Son of God, and because he is, he is able to be the Savior of real sinners, even really bad sinners, sinners like you and me. Amen.