The passion narrative according to Matthew begins with a
plot to betray. Conspiracy theorists not withstanding there is no need to
speculate on what motivates Judas. He is after all human and motivated by the
same demon that possesses the entire race. Judas seeks to turn his intimate knowledge
of the prophet into profit. Matthew is the only Gospel that records Judas’s
regret and even though he finds no satisfaction in returning ill gotten gain
Matthew wants us to know Judas was sorry. Maybe when you betray a close friend,
even if it doesn’t lead to crucifixion, nothing short of dying will do and so
his tragic end seems to him the only way to pay, though given the chance Jesus
who forgave his enemies would surely have offered the same consideration to one
with whom he shared a meal. I hope that when the forever feast happens in the eternal
future there will be a place at the table for the one who weakened by greed treated
his friend with such contempt. Not because I am some sort of bleeding heart
liberal who desperately desires all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4) but
because if I am honest with myself (and by extension those of you who are
reading this) I am more like Judas than Jesus and my only hope is that he will
not treat me with the same contempt I have treated him.
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