3 Then 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, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” Matthew 27:3-4ESV
The Scripture states that when Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind. It sounds to me that that was not his initial intention. It seems like Judas was trying to force Jesus’ hand. He wanted to see the kingdom restored to Israel and wanted it now. He didn’t want, nor did he expect it to be, a spiritual kingdom. Judas was expecting a physical kingdom that he could see and touch now. He was expecting Jesus to be the anointed king that would free Israel from the tyranny of their Roman oppressors.
Remember, they had just had the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Everyone was singing and rejoicing. This seemed like the perfect time to force his will upon Jesus. Force Him to take the throne. But it was not God’s timing. It may have seemed like the perfect timing, but it wasn’t God’s timing, and that makes all the difference. We have to be extremely cognizant of God’s timing, or we will miss the boat completely, and someone else will take our place.
Judas was so focused on His own idea of what Jesus was supposed to be that he missed out completely on who Jesus was. He was in church every Sunday, best friends with the lead pastor; he even preached some Wednesday nights, and yet he had no spiritual discernment. On the outside, Judas was the epidemy of Christianity, but on the inside, he was spiritually dead. He was just going through the motions. He had no relationship with God. This why Jesus says,
“21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Matthew 7:21-23
See, it’s not about the amount of good you do. It’s not about how many times you go to church a month. It’s not about how close you are with the pastor. It’s not even about how much time you spend in your Bible; it’s all about your relationship with God and our obedience to Him. It doesn’t matter if we say we love God or not; it’s how we live our lives. Judas was best friends with Jesus, he ‘loved’ Jesus, but he didn’t live his life as if he did. He only honored God with his lips.
13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,”
Isaiah 29:13a
We have to seek the will of God. We have to seek Him to know Him. We can’t allow ourselves to fall asleep spiritually so that we can know the will of the one who created us.
Heavenly Father awaken the sleeping spirit within us today. Open our blind eyes and our deaf ears. Set a fire in our soul for You, oh LORD. Fill us with a desire to seek Your presence and Your will. Open our eyes that we may see You for who You are so that we may see Your plan for our lives. Help us to follow the path that You have paved out for us. Guide us with Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
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