Monday, March 18, 2013
THE DIRTY THIRTY
Here's a seasonally appropriate question that has long perplexed me. What service did Judas render that was worth the thirty pieces of silver? As best I can tell he agreed to take them to Jesus at a time when there was no crowd around (Luke 22:6) and to identify Jesus to the men who were sent to arrest him (Mark 14:44-45), but it seems to me that there were lots of people who could identify Jesus, and to ascertain His whereabouts seems a fairly straightforward sort of job. The Bible doesn't indicate that Jesus was in hiding or anything. I imagine there were lots of people sympathetic to the Pharisees who would have gladly provided the same services as Judas and they would have considered it service to God. Maybe it bolstered their claims against Jesus to have a member of His inner circle betray Him, but still I'm not sure why Judas was necessary. Any thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Knowing that I probably wont be able to do the password, I'll make my post short.
I sort of assumed that where he snuck off to pray at that time was not public knowledge, as it had already been established that they wanted to kill him. And maybe because the crowds kept following him.
But you pose a good question. What if I'm wrong? What if it was more to humiliate him and gain credibility on their side that they could say one of His own turned him in. Or what if it was really just to test Judas?
It seems to me that so many of these questions have multi-faceted answers..... like now Jesus could really feel the pain of being betrayed by someone very close, like family, who you'd basically lived with and loved. He knows our pain!
I love this question and I believe there are several plausible and interesting reasons. But the best and simplest is supplied by Christ Himself in Mark 14:49 - prophetic fulfillment. I imagine the valuable insight will be mined from a study answering the question: "Why and how did the Scripture foretell this betrayal and what is the benefit in its fulfillment?" Merry meditations!
Post a Comment