Betrayal

Matthew 26:14-16/ Mark 14:41-46

4Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
 ¹⁵And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
 ¹⁶And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
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 ⁴¹And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
 ⁴²Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.
 ⁴³And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
 ⁴⁴And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.
 ⁴⁵And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.
 ⁴⁶And they laid their hands on him, and took him.
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Judas Iscariot is a puzzle to me.  But he was the one that put the crucifixion in motion.   He was the one that must have been the most susceptible to Satan.  Was it just a weak moment?  Did he just want to make everyone happy?  Obviously he did not understand how far the chief priests would take their part of these events.  Judas knew that Christ knew what was at hand; how Judas was betraying him.  The trigger of these events is what, money?  A lot of times betrayal is for money or power.  Someone has the upper hand, and someone else wants to be in charge.

Have you ever watched The Celebrity Apprentice?  I don't normally watch it.  I watched a few season's ago with Gene Simmons and Trace Adkins.  I am watching this season of it now.  This season has a few interestingly strange people on the show.  They are all working for individual charities to raise money, but collectively as a group they must do projects.  It is men versus women.  The first challenge was won by the men.  The second one was won by the women.  After the challenge both teams meet with Donald Trump, his son, Don, Jr., and daughter, Ivanka.  They learn who has won, what the pros and cons of each team were and then the winning team goes to celebrate and watch as the losing team loses a player. 

In many board room scenes, Donald Trump tries hard to make the losers blame someone.  Someone is "thrown under the bus", or the scapegoat.  Sometimes it is the Project Manager. A lot of times it is just the least essential person of the team at that time.  My take on Judas Iscariot is that he was totally essential to the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion, but as a part of the disciples, you do not hear much from him.  Was his heart really in to Christ's teachings?  Did he buy into the whole gospel?  Obviously not!  If he had then maybe things would have worked out differently for him.  But, I think that by the end of his life (just a few days later), he understood the depth of what he had started.  He tried to take back his part in the game, but it was too late.  The Sanhedrin didn't need him or the blood money. They accomplished what they set out to do.

Poor Judas!  Really?  Do you feel sorry for him?  I do in a way, but only because he got caught up in the whole money/power thing.  It's sad to think that any of us can and probably have done something to get ahead and hurt others.  The thing about what Judas did was that if Christ hadn't been betrayed, then there would be no crucifixion, no empty grave, no salvation!   Christ Arose.  Christ Arose, Indeed!