Holy Wednesday. The Betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot.

St. Matthew 26:14-16. 

Why did Judas betray Jesus Christ?

The betrayal of Judas Iscariat was found in all four canonical Gospels. It is a history. It was a prophecy to choose Judas as a betrayer. King David in his Psalms 41:9  "Even my close friend, someone I trusted,

one who shared my bread, has turned against me." It reveals very clearly the betrayal of Juses Christ by the King David some 1000 years ago . The life of Jesus Christ was completely the Prophetic fulfilment. It was very pathetic that Judas addressing Jesus as 'Rabbi' to identify particularly Jesus in the darkness. The darkness is an event of occurrences of sins.His name is often used synonymously with betrayal or treason.

Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot (right), retiring from the Lost Supper, painting by Carl Block late 19th century.

Jesus foretelling Judas betrayal:

Jesus knows very well that he was going to be betrayed by Judas. St. Mark 14:10,11.Judas agrees to betray Jesus Christ to the Sanhedrin . In Matt 26:15, ''What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.  It was in Hebrew custom,  it was paid to the master of a slave. In Matt 26:. 17:25.;The Last Supper: Jesus answered, “The one who dips his bread in the dish with me will betray me.” Judas asked if Jesus meant him, to which he replied “So you say.” They were celebrating the Passover meal.It remembers the Exodus – how God rescued the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. During the meal he said that one of them would betray him. That was Judas Iscariot. Luke 22:3 " Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.  And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple gaurd and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. Satan is a great enemy for every one 1Peter 5:8 "Satan is a common enemy for us, who is a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack" So we must be very careful.

The materalize mind of Judas:

St. John 12:1-7.Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. It reveals Judas' money mindedness.

The kissing of Jesus: 

Matt 26: 47-49. Judas betraying Jesus Christ by giving them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize    Him".           Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. 

In Luke 22:48 quotes Jesus saying "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? "Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. Jesus's arrest follows immediately..He even called him:  “Friend!” “I have always treated you as My friend”, He meant to imply, “why therefore do you come now at the head of My enemies, and betray Me to them by a kiss!” This loving treatment on the part of our Lord was to the ungrateful traitor a last hour of grace. Jesus never abandoned or leave any one. His love is an endowment to the entire World .

The kiss is given by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper and leads directly to the arrest of Jesus by the police force of the Sanhedrin

The Repent of Judas:

 .Natt 27:3-10  Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.And he cast down the pieces ofsilver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. It was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter's field. The entire incidents on Jesus's crucifixion is completely the fulfilment of the Prophecies .In Act1:17-20. There we are told that Judas, having purchased a field with his thirty pieces of silver, fell ‘headlong’ and ‘burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out’. . We must understand the way,  how and why Judas betraying Jesus Christ was purely the fulfilment of Prophecy and the redemption of whole mankind to repent and believe in Jesus Christ who came to the world to save the sinners. Amen.  

Prof. Dr. David Arul Paramanandam.

91-9965685511.

Chengalpet. Tamil Nadu.