"Why was this perfume not sold for thee hundred denarii and given to the poor?" (John 12:5)Judas talked a good game, didn't he? He fit right in with the rest of the disciples. Indeed, he was so much like them that at the Last Supper, no one suspected him of betrayal when he left a little early. Everyone just assumed he was going out to do some good that the Lord had commanded him to do (see John 13:29). After all, here was a man who had heard the same teachings they all had heard. He had seen the same miracles. He participated in the same activities. He ate the same food, shared the same hopes, and experienced the same fears. The reason he fit well with the other disciples is that he was just like them.
But his heart was twisted.
Corruption is a matter of the heart. It does not mark a person physically. Such people don't suddenly start wearing signs saying "I'm a bad guy." They don't wear black hats when everyone else is wearing white. A movie soundtrack does not start playing in a minor key every time this person appears. To all appearances, such people look just like everyone else. And such people can be full participants in good works in the world. They can give lots of money to the poor. They can guide charitable organizations to help others. They can be civil servants serving the good of the nation.
And their heart can be corrupt and filled with hurtful self-interest.
They're nice people, for the most part.
They could be any of us.
Hearts unchanged. Religious for what they can get out of it. Interested only in their own wants, likes, and interests. Hearts hardened to the leadership of God.
And such corruption within makes a person susceptible to greater evils. Luke 22:3 tells us that Satan "entered into" Judas. His corruption had laid the welcome mat. His self-interest had opened the door and set the table. His unfaithfulness in the little things positioned him to be unfaithful in something much greater. It is not so far from justifying one's theft to seeing everyone else as less than fully human. People become objects that can be used or discarded. And once people cease to be human and start becoming objects, murder is not so big a step, particularly if we can justify that murder by our self-interest.
Judas, of course, didn't need to do the murder himself. He only needed to deliver Jesus over to the ones who would. Such a small thing, really, in the big scheme of things. Easily justifiable for the thirty pieces of silver he received.
Our nation right now is having a conversation about murder, and I am worried at how I see it unfolding. When a religious leader can claim that whatever happened to the Saudi reporter in Turkey should not jeopardize big money contracts, I hear a not-so-faint echo of Judas' words in John. People are becoming objects. Murder is becoming justifiable. We are becoming desensitized to that which God sees in each of us, and we are opening a door and offering an invitation to an adversary that should be guarded against at all times. He seeks only to destroy. We do not want him in our hearts. We do not want him in the heart of our nation.
So I see in Judas this morning a call to self-examination. A self-check for pride, for greed, for a desire to follow Jesus only for what he can do for me. And I pray that the Holy Spirit would create a right heart within me and within all who function as leaders. Lord, save us from corruption!
Thank you !
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