Yesterday, known as Holy Wednesday, was the day that Judas made his final decision to betray Jesus and bargained with the chief priests to do so and today, Holy Thursday, is the day that decision was carried out.

“Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 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. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.” — Matthew 26: 14-16

But why Judas?

I must admit that I have always wondered why Judas was chosen to bring about the death of Christ on a cross, but have since realized perhaps ALLOWED would be a more appropriate word.

The Bible tells us very little about Judas’ lineage and life prior to him joining Jesus’ earthly ministry, but we see enough to know that greed and money were deeply embedded in his heart.

Journey with me back a couple of days, which in terms of Holy Week would be on Holy Monday. Jesus and the disciples were at the home of Simon the Leper, who Jesus had healed earlier in His ministry.

“Matthew 26:6-13: While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. ‘Why this waste,?’ they asked. ‘This perfume could have been sold at a high price and given to the poor.’ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured the perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told, in memory of her.”

Even though it appears other disciples in addition to Judas were upset about what appeared to be a waste of expensive perfume and money, the Bible seems to indicate that it was what was driving Judas’ reactions, not so much the reaction itself. His reactions appear to come more from a root of greed than concern for the poor.

But, I also wonder if his reaction could likewise be related to what the disciples and the people, many of whom wound up calling for Jesus’ crucifixion, thought about Jesus at that point in time. With a veil that prevented them from fully understanding Jesus’ purpose of setting up an eternal kingdom, many of them seemed to think that Jesus was there to reclaim the land from the Roman empire and establish a new kingdom on earth. Did Judas’ spirit of greed encourage him to latch on to Jesus in the first place; to ride His coattails into what Judas perceived to be a pathway to power and wealth?

But—while that answers the question, “Why Judas?”—it also begs another question and that question is this: “Why, Judas?

I wonder, if after deciding that the man he called “Rabbi” was not going to win this battle to create a physical kingdom, Judas decided that a jump to the other side might win favor for himself.

That would at least explain why Judas accepted what seems like a measly 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus. You’d think to

perform this type of betrayal, Judas would bargain to become among the wealthiest of the wealthy, but instead he settled for thirty pieces of silver—the equivalent of about 4 months’ wages. I think Judas, obviously acting with Satan’s prompting, was in survival mode.

We know from scripture that God allowed Judas’ heart to remain hardened to bring to fruition the very event that would have eternal impact on every human from that point on; allowed being the operative word here. God gave all humans free will to choose which direction we will go. And if we choose to go in unrighteous, sinful ways and fail to repent, we open the door for Satan to enter legally, which is exactly what happened with Judas.

Fast forward now with me to Thursday of Holy week, the day of Passover, the day of the Last Supper as it is often referred. Judas is sitting at the Passover table with Jesus and the other disciples. I imagine he probably has his newly acquired 30 pieces of silver sitting in the coin purse in his lap. He was likely feeling pretty good about his decision to turn over Jesus and realign himself with the “winning” side.

And then, with the door to his soul wide open and Jesus’ permission, it happened.

John 13:18- “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’ I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.’

After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.’ His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the

disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to the disciple and said, ‘Ask him which one he means.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one who I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, ‘what you are about to do, do quickly.’

Scripture goes on to say Judas left as soon as he took the bread, but none of the other disciples understood what was going on. They just thought Jesus must have asked him to leave to buy some needed supplies for the festival or to give to the poor.

Honestly, I’m not sure that Judas really understood either. He was no longer in control of his own life.  He had made his choices. He ignored the opportunities given to truly follow Jesus as Lord and he never repented. Consequently, Satan was thrilled to have Judas do his evil bidding. I’m not even entirely certain that Satan knew Jesus would rise from the dead. Sure, Satan knows scripture, but is it also possible he misinterpreted it just as Judas and all the Pharisees had? We will probably never know that, at least on this side of heaven.

But there is one thing we do know–Satan knows now!

And, although he still uses the same playbook to disrupt us and wreak havoc, we all know who wins in the end.

The cross was just a comma in the story. The empty grave is the exclamation point!