By James S. Spiegel, First Things.
n this Easter season, we naturally reflect on the passion of Christ, his resurrection, and all that it entails for the human race. But there is a part of the story, seldom analyzed in depth, that deserves close attention as well, especially in our current cultural moment: What motivated Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus Christ?
A stock answer is that Judas did it for the money. After all, as the apostle John notes, Judas “was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it” (12:6). And Matthew tells us that Judas sought to be paid by the chief priests for his treachery; accordingly, “they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver” (26:15). Thirty pieces of silver was no pittance. It amounted to a few months’ wages—enough to buy a decent plot of land.
But the profit motivation theory can’t account for the rest of the story. We are told that, “When Judas . . . saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ‘I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood’” (Matt. 27:3–4). It is one thing to be remorseful for a treacherous act, but it’s quite another to throw away all of one’s profits. What’s more, Judas then went on to commit suicide.
These facts also undermine the theory that Judas was motivated by anger. The supposition here is that Judas expected a militant Messiah and was initially convinced that Jesus fit the bill. But when the Lord refused political action and even began predicting his death, Judas’s hopes were dashed, his loyalty turned to anger, and in his disillusioned rage he handed Jesus over to the authorities. But, again, this theory cannot explain Judas’s deep remorse over Jesus’s condemnation.