Crucifixion Foreseen

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Crucifixion Foreseen

Matt. 26:14-16

14 Then [tote] one [heis] of the twelve [dodeka] , called [lego] Judas [Ioudas] Iscariot [Iskariotes] , went [poreuomai] unto [pros] the chief priests [archiereus] ,
15 And said [epo] unto them, What [tis] will ye [thelo] give [didomi] me [moi] , and [kago] I will deliver [paradidomi] him [autos] unto you [humin] ? And [de] they covenanted [histemi] with him [autos] for thirty [triakonta] pieces of silver [argurion] .
16 And [kai] from [apo] that time [tote] he sought [zeteo] opportunity [eukairia] to [hina] betray [paradidomi] him [autos] . KJV-Interlinear

14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, 15 and said, 'What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up to you?' And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Him. NASB

The price of a injured slave is 30 pieces of silver, Ex. 21:32, 'If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.' NASB

The chief priests intended to destroy Jesus. They paid the price that the master of an injured slave would receive. They did not reflect on the punishment for the ox. They were in fact going to become the ox, and with this payment they placed the final signature on their own death (eternal death) warrant.

Judas was an opportunist. He looked on with awe as did everyone in Judea, Galilee, and the neighboring regions. But what impressed him was not the doer of the miracles, but the reaction of the people to the miracles. People gave money for the 'show' and they gave money for the support for Jesus and His immediate followers. Here was an opportunity for Judas to earn some very easy money.

At some point, perhaps while Jesus was still in the Temple, Judas slipped away, and met with the priests and made his bargain. He now only had to wait for an appropriate opportunity when Jesus would be away from the crowd. Since the crowds were always around during the day, this met that night time was probably going to be the only time when Jesus would be relatively alone.

Judas had set in his own heart the motivation for his deed. This Jesus was talented, but anyone who defied the existing authority was sooner or later going to be removed from the public view and simply disappear into some dungeon somewhere, never to be seen again. John the Baptist was very popular and He disappeared and was then executed, but John never made such bold statements as did Jesus. Judas would reason that his opportunities with Jesus were going to be short lived. Might as well make the best of what he could of the situation and align himself with the powers that be.

That is exactly what he did.

Many folks do this, even without realizing it. We do not have to sell out Christ for silver, but we in effect do so when we let our Bible study slip away from our daily life. Judas saw first hand the very remarkable miracles that He performed. He heard the messages of Jesus, day after day. He lived with Him for many, many months. Yet Judas had a closed mind. He just would not let the spiritual information into his own soul. He was quietly defiant within his own soul.

What is quiet defiance? It is not an out in the open and emotional rejection that all can see, it is more of an inner stubbornness, subtle, yet very real. A person has a way of life, one that they are use to, and they have set goals or wants or desires in their head. It may be connected with something they lack in life, it may be connected with some sense of security, it may be just that they just want certain things and feel that life owes them a certain life style.

They will focus on their wants, or preferences, and just simply ignore the reality of their situation, and of their intentions, and their actions. These people can be responsible in certain areas of life (clean up rooms in their home), and very irresponsible in other areas of life (not pay their bills). This same principle applies to their spiritual life. They can be very personable and social with people, but ignore their spiritual obligations to themselves.

Judas had a pattern of life that he refused to change. He had ample opportunity to change himself. He had ample information with which he could see the futility of his motivations and actions in life, but he simply refused to change.

He lived with the greatest person in all of history, in all of the universe, the unique person, the God/man, Jesus Christ. But then don't we all have access to this same Christ, and don't we all have the same information, and don't we all have the same opportunity to change our lives to comply with the way God wants us to think and live?

How many of us respond correctly and how many of us continue in our subtle disregard of truth?