Even Judas had the opportunity to do the right thing…despite the fact that this would have derailed God’s original intentions!

Let’s consider that Judas didn’t win some contest and weasel his way into a position as one of the twelve disciples. He was specifically chosen just as the others were. Yet when you take a look at his behavior even prior to his betrayal of Christ you have to wonder…good grief, why?!

1) Judas never referred to Jesus as “Lord”. He called him rabbi or teacher instead. He doesn’t seem to acknowledge His divinity or even His authority anywhere. The other apostles are noted to have done so but not he. In fact, he isn’t noted saying much at all. Judas never seemed to regard him as anything other than a teacher. I would argue that he never really believed he was the messiah at all and if he did he didn’t have much faith in that regard. Discovering that Christ intended to die rather than to overthrow the Roman occupation, as most expected the messiah to, was enough to drive him to betrayal. This fact may have grieved the other disciples but it didn’t drive them away.

2) The portrayal of Judas in the gospels is rather unflattering. At first this makes perfect sense but when you consider these accounts were written by fellow disciples who witnessed Judas’ betrayal firsthand you would expect some real vehemence. Instead you don’t see much of the sort, rather you see a fairly factual accounting of Judas. I would argue that it’s expected that the facts speak for themselves. One thing then stands out: the only accounts of Judas actually interacting with Christ at all concern his being rebuked by Christ for greed and Christ’s warning concerning his plans to betray Him.

John 12: 5-8
5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
6This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
8For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

Matthew 26: 24-25
24The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
25Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.

3) With it seeming that Judas lacked any real faith in Christ, even to the point of betraying Him, why in the world would Judas even follow him? Consider the point made of Judas’ greed. It colors one of the two only recorded instances of his interacting with Christ (John 12: 5-8). He also kept the moneybag for the group. Finally, he betrayed Christ for, again, money. He was greedy person and probably only stuck around in order to make use of the opportunity to make a buck or two. In fact, while he may have had little or no faith in Christ, he had to have been aware of the expectations of everyone else who did…that Jesus would overthrow the Roman occupation and that the disciples would probably end up in some position of authority in the end. Notably, it’s at the point where it’s made clear that Christ was to die, rather than lead an uprising, that Judas took it upon himself to fulfill the betrayal that Christ had just warned him of and make what profit he could while he could.

Now all this stuff is fairly well known. But there’s something I’ve only just become aware of myself and it’s startled me a bit. Naturally I feel compelled to share. Many Christians are probably already aware of this but if I never was, then there are surely others who aren’t.

The Old Testament points to Judas’ betrayal.

Psalms 41:9
9Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

Now that one’s arguable but this one is pretty solid…

Zechariah 11:12-13
12And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

Now that’s a pretty cool but it illustrates an odd point when you think about it for a minute. First of all God knew of Judas’ betrayal long before it occurred. Before he was born even. Now I’m not of the “omniscient God” camp of Christianity. I believe God can know all that is knowable but there are some things that simply can’t be known. God can’t know what a man will do in any given situation. Being God He can, of course, make a frighteningly accurate educated guess, especially considering He can see into our hearts and knows us even in the womb.

1 Samuel 16:7
7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Jeremiah 1:5
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

So when Jesus chose Judas He clearly did so knowing the man for who he was. I’ll go so far to say that he was chosen specifically to betray Him. To fulfill Psalms 41:9 and Zechariah 11:12-13 Christ needed one of the disciples to betray Him to the authorities. God knew that Judas was exactly the sort of man to follow Christ yet having no faith in Him, or at least little enough that His impending death would be all that was required to motivate him to betray Him.

And yet, despite all that, Christ makes a point of calling him out right at the supper table. Now you can argue that this was done to illustrate that Christ knew of His betrayer. That’s all well and good, and for a Calvinist nothing more is required. But for those of us who know God for the merciful judge He is, this is pretty profound. Christ clearly states one of the men there will betray Him and when Judas asks, “Is it me?” He responds, “You said it.”

Now if we all truly have free will then Judas did as well. If there was any point in his life that Judas could have repented of his intentions to betray Christ (assuming he had intended that up to this point) then this is it. Even if that hadn’t been his intention until that night, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he would be compelled by Christ’s accusation to do what he’d just been accused of. Quite the opposite, one would think.

Being confronted with some secret conspiracy you’re plotting is enough to put most people off their plans. Being accused of something you haven’t done but are prone to doesn’t usually drive you to do that either, especially considering your accuser already expects it of you. They might take measures to prevent it! So why in the world did Judas go through with it? I’d bet it was because he was angry, greedy and disillusioned enough to behave irrationally.

But the fact remains that the decision to betray Christ was rather irrational, all the more for having had the whole plan laid out on the table by Christ in front of everyone else to begin with. Frankly, Judas had every reason in the world not to go through with it. He could have very easily walked away in shame and slunk off home. There wasn’t a thing preventing him from doing so.

So why did Christ open up that can of worms and provide him that opportunity? Why not make this point to the other disciples on the sly, where Judas couldn’t hear? Why at the supper table? If Judas had slunk off some other avenue would have had to be provided by which Christ fell into the hands of the authorities and was executed. Considering what Christ had accomplished up to this point, the huge stir He had made and all the enemies He’d gather by that point, it’s a very good bet this would have happened even without Judas’ betrayal. I doubt He would have had to do much else to bring this about. It was practically unavoidable.

In the end I contend that even Judas was given the opportunity to repent, even if that derailed Christ’s plans for him. He was certainly given every reason not to follow through with betraying Christ, which would have rendered Psalms 41:9 and Zechariah 11:12-13 devoid of any prophetic aspect.

Consider that, even at the end with his crucifixion imminent and facing betrayal from one of His own disciples, Christ was concerned enough for Judas that He rather politely accused him to his face before the other apostles. Not despite the fact that this might cause him to repent but clearly, to me anyway, quite aware of that. I’ll go further and say it’s perfectly in keeping with Christ’s character and all the things He’d done up to that point in relation to others that He very likely hoped he would.

[Edit: A friend of mine, "Random" from over on the TOL forum, added this, which I think is just amazing. Go Random!

"Just one more thing I would like to mention. Zachariah 11 does not point to Judas' betrayal. I believe this because it is not a prophecy, it is a historical event that happened to Zachariah. In my view God manipulated the 30 pieces of silver to prove a point to Israel and possibly to Judas. In Zachariah the prophet is believed to be worth 30 pieces of silver which shows that was how much God and his Word were worth to them. I believe God manipulated the events with Judas to make a point to show Israel that they had done the same thing again. They put a price on God's word and not a great one at that. Also it is possible that Judas may have known about the issue in Zachariah, for after he receives his blood money he realizes the horror of what he has done. Or it could simply be that when the money was in his hand the reality of it had struck. We are not sure of his educational background.

In Christ,
Random"

Random rocks!]