Judas’ Plunge to Disaster

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

Matthew 27:1-3

Some people would say Judas’ betrayal of Jesus was the greatest sin ever committed. How could anything be worse than that? Well, there is something worse than that. After he betrayed Jesus, Judas gave up hope, and that was his greatest plunge to disaster.

After he betrayed Jesus, Judas made this remarkable confession: “I have sinned,” he said, “by betraying innocent blood” (27:4). You can’t get a more direct confession than that. There are no excuses. This is a full confession. He was saying, in effect, “I’m guilty.”

Notice that Judas says he has betrayed “innocent” blood. He believes Jesus is innocent, and he wants to save Him. Judas hopes that if he returns the money, and testifies to Jesus’ innocence, maybe he can put things right.

But the chief priests aren’t interested. “What is that to us?” they replied. “See to it yourself” (27:4). “Too late, Judas,” they say. “The deed is done. You made your choice, now you have to live with it. There’s nothing you can do about it now.”

Despair comes in on this desperate man. Judas knows he has committed a terrible crime, and he cannot live with himself, so “throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself” (27:5). This is Judas’ greatest plunge to disaster. Not that he betrayed Jesus, not even that he took his own life, but that in his darkness he gave up hope.

Are you in a desperate place? Do you feel like giving up? Read tomorrow’s reflection. You will find real help.