Thirty pieces of silver

Thirty pieces of silver

Scripture

Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. Matthew 26:14-16

Observation:

Right after the anointing of Jesus by the sinful woman, Matthew now gives the account of Judas Iscariot going over to the chief priests and asking for a reward to betray Jesus. The chief priests are delighted and count out for him thirty pieces of silver, which was equivalent to 4 months wages for a skilled laborer. From that time one, Judas was on the look out for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them.

The character of Judas Iscariot has long been a source of mystery and intrigue through the ages. Traitor of traitors… How could he betray the Master who specially chose him from the crowds to be one of only twelve close disciples? How could he after seeing all the miracles and hearing all the teachings of Jesus even consider to betray Him? How could he not believe Jesus is the Son of God after all those experiences?

What caused his downfall? The first obvious answer would be greed. Judas, being the treasurer of the funds donated for the Lord’s ministry would often help himself to the monies. Somehow, he let money become his god, and ultimately, when he saw money being wasted on devout worship to His master, something snapped, and he decided he had enough of following the Lord. Calculative as ever, he reasoned he should at least get one final bribe by betraying His master and proceeded to see the Chief Priests.

Some theologians surmise that Judas had expected Jesus to overthrow the Roman government and become the ruler there and then. Naturally, he expected great riches to also follow, being one of those close to Jesus. Along the way, with all the talk of the Lord going to Jerusalem to die, he must have become increasingly irritated and despaired that he had wasted so much time following someone destined to fail and die. He did not understand. He was disappointed, disillusioned, and ultimately lost his faith.

Application:

It is easy to condemn Judas Iscariot, but the truth is, we all have a part of us that is just like him. Naturally, we all want more – more money, more comfort, more entertainment. God allowed King Solomon to feed his greed and he accumulated and experienced everything he could under the sun. In the end, he concluded that it was all meaningless. Judas started off by small sins, siphoning off a little here, a little there. He thought no one knew. He thought people did not know his secret sins. The sin started small, but grew and grew until it culiminated in ultimate betrayal. Beware the little foxes. When their tails catch fire, they can burn up the whole field!

Prayer:

We praise You and love You, Lord, for Your great love for us. You chose us as we are, in spite of our weaknesses. Help us O Lord, and keep us away from temptation, even the little foxes…… Let us be faithful and strong, and be true to You to the end. Protect us and keep us safe always we pray. In Jesus name, Amen.

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