27 Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. 2 Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”
“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”
5 Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.
6 The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.” 7 After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. 8 That is why the field is still called the Field of Blood. 9 This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that says,
“They took the thirty pieces of silver—
the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel,
10 and purchased the potter’s field,
as the Lord directed.”
Matthew 27:1-10
Dear God, I have had times in my life when I was so sure I was right and then I regretted it so deeply. Now, I’ve never betrayed anyone to the point of death, but I’ve certainly made mistakes that impacted the trajectory of another person’s life. Or even my own life. To my credit (if I’m allowed to look for credit in these situations), I thought I was doing the right thing, but I wonder to what extent Judas thought he was doing the right thing.
What did he think would happen when he betrayed Jesus? Did he think he would just be beaten and maybe “get some sense knocked into him?” Matthew tells us that it was when Judas found out they planned to kill Jesus that he felt the remorse. Was he just trying to motivate Jesus to be the Messiah Judas thought he should be? That’s an interesting question. Maybe it was just to get the 30 pieces of silver and then go his own way, leaving the weird dude he’d followed for three years behind. Maybe it was a way for him to profit from his exit. Now that I think about it, that’s more likely what the plan was. I think he was probably just done with Jesus after Bethany and the breaking of the jar of perfume and decided he could use a little cash to start his new life. He didn’t want to see Jesus killed. And when he heard Jesus was going to be killed he tried to undo it all, but it was too late.
Father, help me to examine my motives. I hope that my goal is always to build others up. To be part of your encouragement to them. To draw them into you an closer to yourself. Whether that’s my wife, my family, my friends, my coworkers, our patients at the clinc, our volunteer, our donors, and our community at large. This is the day a lot of votes will be cast and those votes along with those made over the last two weeks will be counted. I pray that your power will move in the hearts of the voters to accomplish your will in the world. I don’t know what that will mean for us or for our county, state, and country. But I know that I am not going to make the outcome my idol. I have my preferences, but I am a fool So I will trust you, Lord.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
