Reflective Bible Study

While Judas Iscariot is looked down on as the disciple who betrayed Jesus, the gospel of Matthew includes the final act of this disciple’s life. The events surrounding Judas’ betrayal happen over a relatively short period of time. It may have even been less than a week between the time when Judas first thought about betrayal and Jesus’ arrest.

But Jesus knew that He would be betrayed even before starting His ministry. Jesus even knew it would be Judas Iscariot who would be the one to betray Him when bringing Him in to the group of twelve disciples.

Some people believe that Judas’ betrayal was his way of trying to force Jesus’ hand. None of the disciples believed Jesus intended to face the cross. In their minds, the Messiah God promised would live forever – never facing death. In Judas’ mind, the thought is that an arrest by the Jewish leaders would push Jesus into taking the Messiah role that Judas believed He should step into.

Matthew tells us what happened to Judas after realizing Jesus was not moving away from death. “Then Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, regretted what had happened when he saw that Jesus was condemned. He brought the 30 silver coins back to the chief priests and leaders. He said, ‘I’ve sinned by betraying an innocent man.’” (v. 3-4a)

Judas realizes what he had done and he regrets his decision. Before leaving, he throws the money back at the chief priests in the temple.

Was this enough to cause him to turn back to Jesus and ask for forgiveness?

Was the regret simply that Jesus did not step up like Judas believed He should have?

I don’t think we really can know what happened in Judas’ mind at the realization that Jesus was condemned and was headed to the cross. We can see that he returned the money the priests had paid him, and in his words to them, he acknowledges his sin.

But there were four deaths that weekend. After leaving the temple, Matthew tells us that Judas “went away and hanged himself.” (v. 5)

In the list of people we should thank, we truly can thank Judas Iscariot. By betraying Jesus, which kick-started the events of crucifixion weekend, Judas’ actions ultimately led to Jesus’ death, and Jesus’ innocent death opened the way for everyone who has sinned to come to the Father for forgiveness.

As Jesus’ ministry is drawing to its grand conclusion, all four gospel writers focus on a key event in the last hours of Jesus’ life before the cross: the ultimate judgment that is placed on Jesus. It is during this trial and sentencing that each gospel writer draws different details leading up to this moment.

Whether it is how this translation is worded, both Matthew and Mark bring out an idea I had not thought before regarding Pilate and His question to the crowd. Mark tells us that Pilate “He knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they wanted to get their own way.” (v. 10)

This stands out because just a few verses earlier Mark tells us that “The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.” (v. 8)

Reading this key distinction, and knowing that Jesus was primarily loved by the people across the country, I wonder if Pilate believed the crowd present at this point of Passover weekend to be a good cross-section of Jews from all regions. It is interesting that the crowd asks for the release of a prisoner according to Mark, and I wonder if Pilate sees it as an opening to release Jesus who he knows is innocent.

This is where Matthew brings out an interesting parallel between Jesus and the other candidate for release. The man known as Barabbas was also named Jesus. “At that time they had a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd gathered, Pilate asked them, ‘Which one do you want me to set free? Jesus Barabbas? Or Jesus who is called the Messiah?’” (Matthew 27:16-17)

The trial on crucifixion morning centers around the choice of which Jesus will the crowd choose: Jesus the criminal-revolutionary or Jesus the Messiah. Pilate believes the crowd would pick Jesus the Messiah, but the crowd is not what Pilate thinks. Mark tells us that “the chief priests stirred up the crowd. So the crowd asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free instead.” (v. 11)

The question that the crowd faced that day is the same question we all face: Which Jesus will you and I choose?

Will we choose Jesus Barabbas, who tried to force his own way into being a messiah; or will we choose Jesus Christ, who chose to leave heaven and die on a cross as a substitute for us?

The priests and leaders chose Barabbas to be their “Jesus”, but that doesn’t mean that you and I have to make the same mistake.

During one of the times Jesus visited the temple, the religious leaders demand to know what gave Jesus the right to do what He did. These leaders wanted to know who gave Jesus the authority to speak and act the way He did.

However, while this sounds petty, it is actually a trap in disguise. The two possible answers are from God, or from a human. Either way Jesus answers, He incriminates Himself. Saying His authority is from God would be seen as blasphemy, but saying His authority is from a human would both be lying and it would cause Him to lose credibility.

But Jesus can see the trap, and He has a response. Jesus asks a similar counter-question with the same two options: Was John given the right to baptize from God or from a human?

It is in the Pharisees response and Jesus’ final statement that I see a big idea.

After talking it over, the Pharisees respond by saying, “We don’t know.” (v. 27a)

The Pharisees fake ignorance because they don’t want to admit they share a different belief than the crowd. The crowd believed the answer to Jesus’ counter-question to be God, and the Pharisees were worried that if they answered contrary to the popular belief surrounding John, then they would upset the crowd.

Knowing full well that these leaders were simply avoiding the question, Jesus responds by saying: “Then I won’t tell you who gave me the right to do what I do.” (v. 27b)

While the leaders’ fake ignorance, Jesus simply says He won’t share His answer. Jesus does have an answer, but He sidesteps the question – because it is one that is better for Him not to directly answer.

Jesus could have simply responded that He got His authority from the same place as John, but that would have given an answer that would play to the biased beliefs of each group of people present. Instead of trying to be clever, Jesus simply calls out the fake answer, and says that it isn’t good enough to get a response from Him.

This also tells me that sometimes it is okay to admit that we don’t know, but it is never okay to sidestep the issue of who Jesus is to us personally.

The road to Golgotha was filled with emotions. At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He has been arrested, accused, beaten, whipped, and sentenced to death. It is a morning filled with emotions from almost everyone in Jerusalem.

A crowd was present for Jesus’ trip to Golgotha and this crowd likely had people from almost every segment of society in Jerusalem present in it.

The priests, Pharisees, and religious leaders who were a part of the crowd could not be happier at how the morning had gone. They saw Jesus as competition and as a threat to their way of life, and He would now be crucified.

The soldiers and Romans in the crowd saw this as another job to do, and that some enemies of the empire would be put to death as an example to the rest of those living in Judea.

However, Luke also describes another group of people: some of Jesus’ female supporters. Luke tells us the large crowd of people included some women who were crying for Jesus. But when Jesus sees them, He stops and says, “Women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the women who cannot have children and who have no babies to nurse.’ Then people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ And they will say to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ If they act like this now when life is good, what will happen when bad times come?” (v. 28-31)

During one of His greatest moments of pain and in one of the hardest tasks He did, Jesus focused on others who were hurting. In this message to these women, Jesus makes another startling prediction.

Jesus described the present time as being a good one, when “life is good”, but in this description is also a warning about a future time when the situation will be reversed. When life is good, those who are able to have children are blessed and they may also be envied by many women who cannot have children of their own.

But Jesus describes a reverse to this situation. He describes a time when those who can have children will wish they could not, and it sounds like it will be a time shortly before His second coming to earth.

In Jesus’ statement I see a powerful truth for everyone at every point in life: It is easier to focus on what we don’t have and look at other people with the thought that their lives are better than ours. It is easier to see how others are blessed while thinking that we are not. However, Jesus points us to look at our own lives and focus on what He has given to each of us. It is when we stop comparing ourselves to others that we can truly move into experiencing joy in our lives.