The Passion According to St. Matthew Part VI

What about Judas?

Read: Matthew 27:1-10

What do we do about Judas? The problem of Judas is a long-standing one that has been open to much discussion in the history of both biblical interpretation and popular culture.  From a narrative perspective, he is necessary to the story. The story does not move forward without a betrayer; someone has to be the fall guy. Many have seen Judas having no agency of his own, that he is simply a puppet, manipulated to move the story to its necessary climax. For example, in John 13:12 we are told that the devil put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. In Luke 22:4, we are told Satan entered into Judas. Thus, Judas is not acting under his own power, but has been influenced by the devil, who is his "puppet-master".

I don't think Matthew sees it this way, thought. In fact, it is a detail that is missing in both Matthew and Mark's version of the passion. From Matthew 12:14, the Pharisees are already plotting to kill Jesus, but there is no sign of Satan orchestrating it. Satan is certainly not absent in the Matthean narrative.  He is present at the temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11), in 16:23 he is rebuked by Jesus for having led Peter astray when Peter protests Jesus' prediction of the passion. Demons are lurking everywhere in Matthew's gospel and Jesus casts them out.  However, in Matthew, it does not seem that Satan is the agent behind the crucifixion, at least directly. If anything, he is the one trying to stop Jesus from going to the cross when he puts the words "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you!" into the mouth of Peter. Rather, in Matthew's narrative, Judas and the Pharisees, scribes, chief priests, and elders, seem to be operating of their own volition and by their own scheming.  The leaders are threatened by Jesus. Judas seems to be motivated by money, although one might not rule out currying favour with those in authority.  The point is that Judas appears to be acting under his own steam. If anything, the devil does not want the crucifixion to happen. To interrupt the crucifixion is to interrupt the work of salvation.  As the devil tried to put Jesus' ministry off the rails from the beginning (the temptations in the wilderness), so he does again, using Peter's voice, and as we shall soon see, the last temptation  on the cross echoes the first, to abandon the divine mission.

Thus Judas is an important player in the story. If he is not the Judas of Luke and John's gospels who has become a tool in the hands of the devil, then he is also not quite like Pharaoh, whose heart God hardens.  This is the other view often held up, that God was the puppet-master and used poor Judas against his will. However, as I read it, the Judas we meet in Matthew is responsible for he own actions, his own choices, his own betrayal of his master.

Who is the real Judas?  The story needs him.  Some popular films have cast him as knowing what he was doing was a necessary part of the plan, that he may have even been in cahoots with Jesus.  The recently discovered alleged Gospel of Judas has Judas "in the know."  In such readings, Judas then becomes the hero of the story, almost a sacrificial lamb in his own right.  But I don't think this is how Matthew sees him.

If I have read Matthew's version correctly, I think we meet a Judas who makes a big (BIG!) mistake.  For whatever reason, he has been tempted to betray his master.  The ostensible reason was thirty pieces of silver.  Yet, what we discover when the deed is done is that Judas is wracked with great remorse. He goes to the the chief priests and elders and makes his confession "I have sinned by betraying innocent (or righteous) blood!" The religious authorities, because of their own complicity in the sin, cannot do what they ought to do, which is help him find a way through. They are powerless to be priests or pastors to him.  And he has forsaken the one true priest and pastor he knew who could help him and instead betrayed him.  The response of the religious leaders to his confession is "What is that to us? See to it yourself."  Judas throws down the thirty pieces of silver, an act of defiance, an act of repentance, and a sign of his change of heart. But he is on his own. He set himself on this path by his own volition. He colluded with others, but in the end, the decision to betray Jesus was his alone.  And now he is alone. To whom can he turn? Tragically, and in despair, he ends his own life, but not before acknowledging he had sinned.

I think, however, that there is hope in this story.  For whom does Jesus die? Is it not the sinner? Back at the very beginning of the gospel, an angel tells Joseph to name his son Jesus (meaning: one who saves), for "he will save his people from their sins". (Matt. 1:21)  When Jesus gave thanks over the Passover cup, he told his disciples to drink from it because "it is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (26:27-28) Judas's sin, his betrayal of Jesus, was just as Jesus had predicted in 26:24, that it would have been better if that one had never been born.  These words surely echoed in Judas's ears when he took his own life.  But again, is this truly the end for Judas?  The Last Supper is followed by all manner of betrayal, Peter and the sons of Zebedee cannot stay awake in Gethsemane and pray with him, Peter denies his Lord, Judas turns him over to the authorities, the disciples all seem to disappear.  And then there are those that stand by and mock, including the thieves crucified with him. Surely they are stand-ins for all of us who are less-than-faithful in all sorts of manners and degrees. Judas represents the worst-case scenario, and yet I have to wonder, did Jesus die only to save some?  At the Last Supper he says his blood is poured out for "many".  This leaves some ambiguity, but it suggests to me a more generous view than most of us would allow.  We all want to be included in the "many" while pointing out others who may belong to the "few".  What happens though, when our sin is so terrible that we cross the Rubicon from "the many" to "the few"?   It would appear this is what happened to Judas; but did it?  Jesus came to save sinners, to save his people from their sins.  Judas is not an unrepentant sinner.  After the deed is done he has that remarkable conversion of heart.  We are told that he repented (27:3) and that he threw down the pieces of silver. Once again, those who should have helped him with his repentance, through their own guilt, abandoned him.

Is there hope for Judas?  I think that Matthew, at least, suggests that there is.  Jesus came to save his people, to save sinners, and like it or not, we are sinners.  When we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Is not Judas precisely the sort of sinner that Jesus loves to save?  Is his crime not precisely the sort of crime that cries out for salvation? Is not Judas the kind of sinner that needs Jesus more than any other?  Judas did not go to his end thinking he had done a good thing.  In fact, he punished himself severely.  The greatest irony of all may be that by God's mercy what was meant for ill was used for good. Perhaps that was Judas's redemption.