With Easter right around the corner, Christians are thinking about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Although we cannot know exactly what motivated Judas to betray Jesus, the Gospels do give us clues. According to the Gospel of Mark, the first gospel to be written and thus the one closest to the actual events, Jesus and his followers spent an evening at the home of Simon the leper in Bethany two days before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. In those days, 30 pieces of silver was the price of a slave. Judas may not have intended to go out till later. Many different accounts of Judas' death have survived from antiquity, both within and outside the New Testament. Some scholars have linked his surname “Iscariot,” to Queriot (or Kerioth), a town located south of Jerusalem in Judea. John 6:70-71: Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him. In either case, almost immediately after having betrayed Jesus, Judas regrets his actions and tries to return the money he was paid. Approximately 1980 years ago, Judas Iscariot received the most notorious sum in the history of mankind: thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus Christ. The gospels do not state why Judas betrayed Jesus. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas received 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. Jesus turned to Judas and said to him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” In effect, Jesus dismissed Judas from the table. Instead, he went into a field, where “falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:18). Intriguingly, Judas Iscariot is the only one of the apostles whom the Bible (potentially) identifies by his town of origin. They received some financial support from his wider group of supporters (particularly women), and they could depend on friends and community members for occasional food and lodging, but life was hard. The disciples had similar expectations. Mark says that “some” of those who were present were angry at her actions and asked, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to … Evidently, when Jesus dismissed him from the Passover meal, Judas went directly to the chief priests. "Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” In this version of the Easter story, Judas is presented in a much more sympathetic light: he was on a kind of secret mission from Jesus. Jesus asked Judas to do this and even predicted that Judas would be “cursed for generations” as a result, but also promised him that one day he would be vindicated. ... Jesus did not say this to condemn Judas, but to call him to repentance. After years of struggling to make ends meet it might be frustrating to watch one’s leader do something so wasteful. 14 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. This isn’t just a literary flourish or theological window-dressing; the demonization of Judas has a long history in influencing how people, medieval Christian in particular, have thought about Jews in general. Judas then went on his own to the priests of the Temple, the religious authorities at the time, and offered to betray Jesus in exchange for money—30 pieces of silver… An ancient Coptic manuscript dating from the third or fourth century, containing the only known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas. The text is known as the Gospel of Judas, and when it was discovered and announced to the world in 2006 it caused something of a media firestorm. Controversy surrounds the Gospel of Judas, as some scholars have argued that the National Geographic Society’s version represented a mistranslation of the Coptic text, and that the public was wrongly made to believe the document portrayed a “noble Judas.” In any case, the fact that the Gospel of Judas was written at least a century after Jesus and Judas died means that it provides little in the way of historically reliable information about their lives, and certainly doesn’t provide the missing link to understanding Judas Iscariot’s true motivations. Matthew 26:14-15. According to Luke 22:3, it was during the final week in Jerusalem that the devil placed the idea of betraying Jesus into Judas’s heart. Judas is seen seated at the opposite side of the table. If Judas and Jesus knew exactly what was going on, the rest of the disciples were without a clue. Jesus does not raise an army, organize troops, or even try to evangelize the pilgrims who were visiting Jerusalem for Passover. 16 And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray … From the moment he plants a kiss on Jesus of Nazareth in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas Iscariot sealed his own fate: to be remembered as history’s most famous traitor. Think of it. Alternatively, others have suggested that the name Iscariot identified Judas with the Sicarii, or “dagger-men,” a group of Jewish rebels who opposed the Roman occupation and committed acts of terrorism circa A.D. 40-50 on behalf of their nationalist cause. Judas then went on his own to the priests of the Temple, the religious authorities at the time, and offered to betray Jesus in exchange for money—30 pieces of silver, as specified in the Gospel of Matthew. “These are attempts to see if there may have been something up front that set Judas apart from the rest. But for 30 pieces of silver, Judas really sold himself, not Christ. Jesus Himself stated that it would have been better if Judas had not been born. The Betrayal by Judas. READ MORE: Mary Magdalene: Prostitute, Wife or None of the Above? Throughout all of history, this is how he is known. “There have always been those who have wanted to tie Judas's betrayal to the fact that he had a love of money,” Cargill points out. Bible verses about Judas. But there are a number of historically and narratively responsible explanations. In 2006, the National Geographic Society announced the discovery and translation of a long-lost text known as the “Gospel of Judas,” believed to have been originally written around A.D. 150, then copied from Greek into Coptic in the third century. Yet, we may infer at least two reasons: Judas did it after becoming convinced that Jesus was going to die and not reign as King (Mark 14:3-11). After this betrayal, Judas felt remorse and tried unsuccessfully to return the thirty pieces of silver he had been paid to betray Jesus (Matthew 27:3-4). FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Like the Gospel of John, the Gospel of Luke also cited Satan’s influence, rather than mere greed, as a reason for Judas’s betrayal. Then Jesus proceeds to the Jewish Temple, where he overturns tables and throws out the money changers. But by identifying Jesus to the Jewish authorities, Judas set into motion the series of events that became the foundations of the Christian faith: Jesus’s arrest, his trial, his death by crucifixion, and eventually his resurrection, known collectively as the Passion of Christ. The intertwining of antisemitism, the passion narrative, and violence is one of the reasons that it is important we get the historical pieces of the passion narrative correct. READ MORE: Why Did Pontius Pilate Have Jesus Executed? The 30 pieces of silver that Judas was paid could be worth anywhere between $90 and $3,000 in today’s currency. Up to then, no one suspected a thing of Judas. Today, “Judas” is virtually synonymous for “traitor.” Here's what you should know about him. As one of Jesus’ closest followers and friends you have to wonder what he was thinking when he betrayed Jesus. Without Judas, you don't have the central component of Christianity—you don't have the Resurrection.”. There is a very good explanation for this. At another moment Peter declares that he will not allow Jesus to die. The betrayal of Jesus was for Judas' own benefit. “Jesus is from the northern part of Israel, or Roman Palestine. In one version of the story, he commits suicide. But in modern terms, that’s the equivalent of about six weeks of work for a day laborer: not a huge amount, and certainly not enough money to compensate you for betraying someone you had spent years following. 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