Matthew 26:14-16

THE TREACHERY OF JUDAS

Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6

St Mark, like St Matthew, connects the treachery of Judas with the scene in Simon’s house. His worldly hopes fell altogether at the thought of ‘burial.’ It is a striking juxtaposition: as Mary’s is the highest deed of loving and clear-sighted faith, Judas’ is the darkest act of treacherous and misguided hate.
The motive that impelled Judas was probably not so much avarice as disappointed worldly ambition. Jesus said of him that he was a ‘devil’ (diabolus or Satan), the term that was on a special occasion applied to St Peter, and for the same reason. Peter for a moment allowed the thought of the earthly kingdom to prevail; with Judas it was the predominant idea which gained a stronger and stronger hold on his mind until it forced out whatever element of good he once possessed. ‘When the manifestation of Christ ceased to be attractive it became repulsive; and more so every day’ (Neander, Life of Christ, Bohn’s trans., p. 424).