The tragic disciple
There is something tragic about the person who has great opportunity and yet fails to take advantage of it. Few people illustrate such tragedy better than Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. Chosen by Jesus early in His public ministry as one of His apostles, Judas had the opportunity to be with Jesus for about three and one-half years. During that period of time, Judas no doubt saw many miracles and listened to the teaching of Jesus on numerous occasions.
At the same time that Judas was in the company of the only individual who has ever lived without sin, he was engaged in thievery, stealing from the common funds of the apostles (John 12:1-6). At some point, he decided to profit monetarily through a betrayal of his Master. He went to the chief priests and offered to deliver Jesus to them. He received thirty pieces of silver in exchange for his promise to help them take Jesus into custody in a place where it could be done with the least public uproar.
Matthew’s account of his actions indicates that Judas’ behavior was the subject of prophecy (27:9-10). It has been argued by some that Judas didn’t have any choice, that he had been selected by God to commit the foul deed of betrayal and could not avoid doing so. I don’t agree with this idea; the Scriptures reveal that the devil "put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him" (John 13:2). God, in His omnipotence, can anticipate how a man will react before he is even faced with the temptation. Jesus, as Deity in the flesh, knew the character flaws of Judas when He selected Him as an apostle and was aware later on that Judas was looking for an opportunity to betray Him (John 13:21-26). I am of the opinion that Jesus anticipated how Judas would react when faced with the tempation of some easy money gained in a nefarious manner. Nevertheless, it remained Judas’ choice.
At the last supper, Jesus identified His betrayer in front of the other apostles. Judas left the supper and arranged for Jesus to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He even identified Jesus to the multitude in the garden by kissing him in the manner of a disciple greeting an esteemed master. After Jesus had been "tried" by the Jews and led off to be punished by the Romans, Judas was filled with remorse and brought the money back to the chief priests, confessing his sin of betraying innocent blood. In a stunning act of hypocrisy, the Jewish leaders would not put the money back into the temple treasury because it was blood money and so they purchased the potter’s field in which to bury strangers (Matthew 27:1-8).
One final choice – Judas, one of the most privileged of humans, went and hanged himself. What a sad waste of opportunity and potential! What are we doing with our opportunity to be a disciple of Jesus?.