The first full moon in Spring brings with it two things, both of which are equally predictable. First there is Easter, celebrated on the Sunday immediately following that first full moon. Secondly, there is the somewhat predictable “scholar” who will bring forth some long lost “proof” that Christianity is a hoax. Usually it is by the “rediscovery” of some “lost” gospel. Never mind that it was lost because the Church Fathers already knew about it and deemed it a fraud. Easter 2006 was no different in this regard. National Geographic released an English translation of the Gospel of Judas just in time for the Pascal feast. This “gospel” paints Jesus and Judas as somehow in cahoots. But it also has a particular appeal because it appears to answer an age-old question of why Judas did what he did.
We must admit that it is more than mere curiosity that places this question before us. Even if Christ ultimately claims the victory, it does not sit well with us that Judas was the collateral damage. Nor are we comfortable with the fact that many of the Church Fathers place Judas in hell because, as Our Lord said, “woe to him by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for him to never have been born” (Mt 26:24). Nor should it. Even if Judas is alone in hell, the losing of a single soul is the greatest of all tragedies. But Sacred Scripture and the Church’s liturgical calendar place the question before us this week and so we must resist the temptation, like the heretics of the first Christian centuries, to “psychologize” Judas and try to explain it away as if he was a victim caught up in the tsunami of the Redemption.
“Watch Out Lord”
We must first admit that neither Scripture nor Tradition gives us a clear answer as to why Judas did what he did. And the lack of clarity is for a good reason. Any one of us can be Judas—selling Jesus for something else. This must be lesson number one or else we cannot even begin to unpack what might be hidden away in what we have been told. We are each presented with the temptation of the thirty pieces of silver daily, although usually we settle for a whole lot less. We all sell Christ out in small (and big) ways every day. As St. Philip Neri said every day of his life, “watch out Lord, lest Philip betray you today.”
The point is that we must all see in Judas our capacity to do likewise. If a man who spent three years with God in the Flesh could do it, then anyone can. It is only grace that preserves us from the temptations we would otherwise easily succumb. And this is why when Our Lord warned the Apostles that one of them would betray Him, each of them feared it might be him. They knew that they didn’t really want to, but they also knew that they were capable of anything given the right set of circumstances. This is what it means to recognize that you are a sinner—not that you have done a bunch of bad stuff, but to know that at any point you are capable of falling off the wagon. “Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor 10:12).
Judas and the Role of the Devil
Likewise, we must also understand that the Gospel narratives are calling us to go beyond Judas’ personal motivation and to see in this great betrayal the hoof marks of the great enemy of man’s soul, Satan. This is not to absolve Judas of responsibility but to acknowledge the role he played. St. John tells us that “the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him” (Jn 13:2). The devil had tempted Judas to betray Our Lord and Judas had made up his mind to do so. As St. Thomas says in his commentary on this verse, Satan “enters into a person’s heart when one totally gives himself to following his suggestions and offers no resistance at all. Thus Satan first put the plan to deceive Christ into Judas, and then he entered into to possess him more completely and to lead him to accomplish the evil.” In short we cannot rule out demonic possession in the carrying out of the betrayal. Even if this is the case, Judas was a most willing participant and not merely a puppet in the hands of the devil. Judas was willing, but may have lacked the “courage” to carry it out. Once he consented to the devil’s suggestion, however, he ceded his personal freedom over to him.
This too can be spiritually instructive for us. Judas shows us that we should not yield to temptations of the mind, even if we “would never actually do it.” To consent to a temptation is to put ourselves under the power of the Evil One. Very often we will entertain thoughts of revenge, even though we know deep down we are incapable of carrying it out. This is very dangerous because when the source of the temptation is the devil, he is only too happy to help give us the strength to carry out our wildest fantasies. If nothing else Judas teaches us that.
All that being said, I believe we can begin to uncover some of Judas’ personal motivation. We must first eliminate what appears to be the obvious answer—greed. Thirty pieces of silver was the price paid for the death of a slave and was not very much. It would have been far less than Judas was likely making embezzling as keeper of the Apostolic money bag. He was walking away from a pretty good racket. That coupled with the fact that, because he inherited his father’s name, Iscariot, he was probably already wealthy, makes it unlikely that greed was the motivating factor.
Biblical Typology and the Judas/Judah Connection
Instead we can look at the Patriarch Joseph as a type of Christ. For he too was sold for pieces of silver by his brother Judah. And why did he do this? For the same reason that Judas would betray Christ—envy. Envy is the devil’s forte. It was envy that motivated him to go after mankind when he fell. And in his role as the Accuser, it is envy that he is constantly seeking to incite in us. Envy always presents itself by way of accusation making it about what it’s not really about. It is an attempt to tear down another person simply because they are stealing from your greatness. Judas was not the thief, Christ was—”why was this not sold for 300 days wages?”. The devil was not in Judas, it was Our Lord who was the devil.
So, it was Judas’ envy of Our Lord in His absolute freedom, especially his freedom from a desire for riches, that led Judas ultimately to consent to turning him over. And in this way, the story of Judas should be particularly instructive for us. We live in a culture that has been particularly designed to incite envy. When someone does something great, we scan their social media history to find a way to tear them down. Supposed class/race/gender/sexual identity warfare is all about envy by demonizing the other. Envy is the most difficult for us to see because we are living in it. And that is why we must never forget what happened to Judas and the wages of envy.