The Adventure Link
CSI: Jerusalem
The Traitor Makes His Deal
We continue our investigation into the events that took place a few thousand years ago in Jerusalem. In putting together the evidence we now turn our attention to one of the key players in this conspiracy.
It may well be that Christ’s rebuke after Mary had anointed the feet of Jesus that sealed what had been a growing disillusionment in Judas’s mind. He may have been questioning the Messianic credentials of Jesus. After all, like nearly everyone else, he expected a Messiah who would deliver Israel from Roman oppression and establish His throne. Judas (as well as the other disciples) no doubt had hoped to share in the glory and power of that kingdom . But as Jesus talked more and more about His rejection and impending death, Judas lost enthusiasm for following Him. He had hung on for three years hoping Jesus would take the throne of David and elevate him. His motives all along appear to have been greed and a selfish thirst for power.
He watched with resentment as such costly gifts—a pound of pure spikenard and an alabaster flask—were sacrificed in an act of sheer worship. And it may have been at this very moment that he made his final decision to commit an act of treachery by handing Jesus over to His enemies.
Operating through Judas’s greed, and taking advantage of an unregenerate heart that had by now utterly spurned Jesus, the devil compelled Judas to carry out the act of treachery that was about to occur. For Judas’s part, when he turned from Christ in this final act of rejection, he willingly gave himself over to the control of the powers of darkness, and become a tool of Satan. Matthew tells us, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?’ And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him” (Matthew 26:14–16).
Judas may even have gone to the house of Caiaphas in the exact hour the Sanhedrin were meeting there to plan their own conspiracy against Jesus. In any case, Judas’s treacherous plans perfectly melded with theirs, and they immediately weighed out the betrayal price and paid him.
It was the price of a slave—thirty pieces of silver (Exodus 21:32). These were probably silver shekels. Thirty shekels would be worth about 120 denarii—less than the value of Mary’s spikenard. Judas may have even deluded himself into thinking there was some justice in this act as a response to what he had convinced himself was an act of wanton extravagance.
The Sanhedrin no doubt took special pleasure in the fact that they were assisted in their plot by one of Jesus’ closest disciples. They may have also imagined that this somehow vindicated their evil plans.
And from that point on, Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus. Having already accepted money for the deed, he was irrevocably committed. Now all he had to do was select an occasion when Jesus was alone, or nearly so, in order to fit into the Sanhedrin’s plans to capture Jesus quietly. And he ultimately decided that the best opportunity would be in the garden where Jesus often went to pray alone with His closest friends.
From an earthly perspective, it appeared that the schemes of Jesus’ enemies were beginning to come together perfectly. The Sanhedrin were no doubt thrilled to have added a conspirator from Jesus’ own inner circle. Judas was undoubtedly pleased to have profited so neatly from his treachery. From His opponents’ standpoint, things were falling together nicely.
No one but Jesus Himself realized it at the time, but a higher plan was really at work. It was the eternal plan of a sovereign God—a plan that had been laid out from before the foundation of the world. And from the very inception of the plot, the fact of God’s sovereign control is made clear by all the prophecies that were fulfilled as the drama unfolds perfectly in accord with God’s eternal purposes.
Thus the first and most basic lesson we gain from the murder of Jesus is the truth that God remains absolutely sovereign over all, even when it seems the most evil schemes of sinful men are about to achieve a sinister success.
The adventure continues
The investigation continues...
