Blood Money



Matthew 27:1-10
1When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
2And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
3Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,
4saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
5And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.
6But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.”
7So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers.
8Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,
10and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

One thing you can never accuse the Bible of doing is holding back the truth because the story is gruesome. The Bible is filled with stories of real people who do real things for a myriad of reasons. Quite often those events are ugly. Such is our reading for today.

Judas has watched as events unfold leading Jesus in a direction Judas was not expecting. Jesus is being led away and placed into the hands of Romans. This is going to mean His death. Even though Judas was there to hear Jesus prophesy His own death Judas is completely surprised that this is the final result of his actions. Many have speculated that Judas simply wanted to force Jesus’ hand and see Him defeat Roman rule, establishing His Kingdom here on earth. That would have been a considerable boon for Judas as a member of the inner circle. He would have been set for life! But his hopes are dashed as the events of the evening begin to head in the direction of Jesus death. Now Judas begins to back-peddle. There must be a way to undo his betrayal. What he didn’t take into account was the reaction of the chief priests and elders. They could have cared less about Judas and his confession. They had what they wanted and this informant was no longer of interest to them. As priests they were supposedly skilled in the area of hearing a confession and granting forgiveness. Not so much.

Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, records for us what happens after Judas goes out and hangs himself.

Acts 1:15-19
15In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said,
16“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
17For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”
18(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.
19And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

This is a tragic ending to a life that could have been spent furthering God’s Kingdom. But instead Judas makes two bad choices; first to betray his Lord and second to end his own life. He is truly a tragic figure. The obvious comparison is always between Judas and Peter. Both betray the Lord in their own way, yet Peter is repentant and goes on to be a giant in the faith while Judas despairs and ends his life. Our choices have consequences. But here’s the lesson for us today. We can take even our bad choices and crummy consequences before God and He will help us deal with them. Instead of being like those chief priests who told Judas to “see to it himself” upon hearing Judas confession, our Father willingly grants forgiveness. That may not exonerate us from dealing with the consequences but He will also help us out with that as well. Our God of grace always takes us back so we need never despair.

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