All this nonsense really seems to be exhausting Jesus (you know how much he hates hypocrites). "Greetings, Rabbi!" (26:49) he says and plants a big kiss right on Jesus. He ups the phony factor even more when he comes back with that angry posse to arrest Jesus. Who, me? Betray you for thirty pieces of silver? I would never… but just in case, I think I'll take this bread and wine to go. When Jesus outs Judas at the last supper, Judas tries to play it off like he's still one of the inner circle (26:25). And in Matthew's Gospel, Judas is king of the phonies. Just like Holden Caulfield before us, we know a phony when we see one. Camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle hard (19:24). It certainly wouldn't have made Judas rich, though we're guessing it will still make it pretty hard for him to get into Heaven. How much for the Messiah's head on a cross? The going price for that is apparently thirty pieces of silver (26:15), which if you're doing your ancient monetary conversions correctly is hardly anything at all.
Mark just claims that Judas goes to the Pharisees and offers to give Jesus up free of charge.īut Matthew adds money to the equation, making cash the motive for his dastardly deed. Luke and John are sure to tell us that Satan entered Judas (so it's not totally his fault, right?).
Money, Money, MoneyĬompared to the other gospels, Matthew gives Judas some pretty terrible motivations for betraying Jesus. And by shine, we mean repulse everyone with his villainy. It's not until very late in the story that Judas gets a chance to shine. A little evil foreshadowing to set the mood. And there's Judas-last in line, with the helpful added descriptor, "the one who betrayed him" (10:4).
He doesn't even mention him until Chapter 10, when he gives us a full account of all the disciples. The Last Shall Be LastĮarly on, Matthew doesn't seem to have much use for Judas.
He hands his friend, teacher, and messiah over to be arrested and executed. And alternate title for the New Testament could be Everyone Hates Judas.