What was Judas' motivation?

[Elihu's Girl]

Golly, I've never seen that "each of you" before. I double checked with an on-line Bible and compared different versions, and none of them have "each of you" there.

I have no idea where that "each of you" came from.

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. (NKJV)

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: (KJV)

Luke 22:31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; (NASV)

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: (NIV)

Hmm... Maybe it was just my translation... (NLT)

[vitality22004]

Part of his motivation may have been disappointment in Jesus, who talked of a kingdom, so he saw him as one who would overthrow Rome. Instead, He started talking about going to Jerusalem to die. Judas felt betrayed by Jesus. He had an association with the Sanhedrin so he gave Jesus up mainly because of his anger over what the Romans had died and Jesus's failure to act as the 'true Messiah' and lead a revolt that would liberate the Jews.

[Elihu's Girl]

Part of his motivation may have been disappointment in Jesus, who talked of a kingdom, so he saw him as one who would overthrow Rome. Instead, He started talking about going to Jerusalem to die. Judas felt betrayed by Jesus. He had an association with the Sanhedrin so he gave Jesus up mainly because of his anger over what the Romans had died and Jesus's failure to act as the 'true Messiah' and lead a revolt that would liberate the Jews.

I agree. I think it's still hard sometimes to adjust to the fact that God sees a bigger picture than us... We wonder why things happen the way they do etc. It's hard to trust God sometimes...

Rome was just a symptom of the bigger problem. Sin.

[vitality22004]

This started me thinking. What really was Judas's role? Did the Sanhedrin really need someone to point Jesus out to them? I think the purpose of God had to be more than that. It is said that Jesus was acquainted with all our sorrows: He was rejected and despised and He came unto His own and they did not recognise Him ....that was part of the plan...so that rejection could be destroyed at Calvary and that yoke on our lives too...the eyes of the Jews were blinded to the fact that He was the Messiah so they crucified the Son of God.....part of the plan...to let us Gentiles come to the light....so He needed to be denied before men....unjustly accused....and betrayed by one who wasin His inner circle...so that He could carry that pain for us on Calvary and break its hold on us forever?? What do you think?

[nebula]

What I would like to know is why did Judas use a kiss as the signal to point him out?

[David from New Bern]

What I would like to know is why did Judas use a kiss as the signal to point him out?

I don't know...starting with that admission..first...But according to what you understand about his motivation probably would determine how you felt about this tag of affection. If he was trying to advance his idea of Jesus' military coup d'etat, it was genuine affection on some level. If he was angry or jealous it was sarcasm. Or it could have been a cowardly way to touch Jesus to point Him out without being hit or wounded in the affray.

[David from New Bern]

Hello David From New Bern,

I had posted this earlier, but will do so again because I don't believe I shyed away from the fact Satan entered into Judas. If you will notice, I said I believe that Judas was full of covetousness and that created an open door for the devil to enter in. In other words, I believe he was literally possessed by the devil. When a person is possessed they literally have no control over their actions, but it was because of his sin that the devil came inside. Had he been right in his heart, that would not have been possible.

I believe you are right on it...This is my personal take on the Scriptures on this one...His sin opened the door and Satan took over and overrode logic...Welcome back hope you had a good trip...

[Marnie]

In John's gospel, it is clear that Judas never really committed to Christ.

Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.(John 13:9-10)

The "bathing" represents Christ's forgiveness of sins at conversion, and the footwashing represents the believer's continual need to ask for forgiveness as he gets contaminated with the "dirt" (sin ) of the world. Jesus makes it pretty clear that Judas was never "bathed," he never truly committed himself to Christ. Also, in John 6:70 we read this:

Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?

That was stated over year before Judas' betrayal, which again shows that Judas was not what he appeared to be.

[Nevin]

All things work out for the good that serve Him .....

[Naziyr]

I've spoken to a few rabbis about this, about the significance about Judas going back to the Priests...

And from what they told me (Really nice Ultra-Orthodox Jews BTW) is that Judas perhaps viewed Jesus as "going to slow" politically. For when He came to Jerusalem, He was welcomed by the crowd at the gates... yet didn't make a bold political movement with this crowd of over 5000. Judas had been following Jesus around for some time, and seeing all the times He gave up using the crowd to change the politcal status of the Jewsh occupation... well Jesus had more than a few opportunities to march on Jerusalem with an army (think about the people He fed, the faithful disciples before He declared eating of His "flesh"). Judas saw this and grew impatient, for He was one who believed Jesus to be as the Traditionalist Jews believe, a messiah with military and political clout to liberate the Jewish people.

It's not too hard to see what was Judas' mind when he led a small military force to capture Jesus. Judas was trying to force the messiah's hand, because Judas saw all that Jesus was capable of. He'd seen the miracles, seen Him debate with the political leaders of the time, seen him win the crowd over with words of supreme wisdom, it was obvious Jesus was the man to do it. Maybe he even had faith in Jesus, but overall he was impatient.

So once Jesus was arrested, and was on trial, Judas knew what he had done was a grievous error and was sorely seeking forgiveness when he went to return the silver.

See in the time of Jesus, it was the priest's responsibility to help the sinner be reconciled to G-d, and Judas was seeking this proclaiming that he had condemned an innocent man... but when he went seeking to be healed, the priests turned him away, which was their sin. Judas then threw down the money and went out, and was overcome with grief and hung himself. The priests then took the money and bought the land that Judas had hung himself on. Some people don't understand the scripture when it says that judas purchased the land, and the priests purchased the land. But the priests bought the land in proxy, with judas' money, therefore the priests payed for it and bought it, but it was technically Judas' land purchased with his money.

Anyways...

(Ya... A.D.D. hit again)

Shalom

Edited September 22, 2006 by Naziyr