Sin Makes Us All Spies

Judas betrayed Jesus. We all do.

When we look at the details surrounding Judas, we cringe. He is a close follower of Jesus, part of His inner circle, and he completely turned against Him. No doubt, his decision was ugly and it was done in the dark. He was hiding his desire to turn his back on Jesus and the apostles. His sin was secretive and deceptive. 

The sin of Judas is serious. However, did Jesus need Judas to betray Him in order for Him to save the world? We would have to say no. Jesus is God. He could have saved the world in any way that He chose. The Jewish hierarchy was already scheming Jesus’ death. They were plotting against Him and they were committed to getting rid of Him. Judas simply made their plans easier. 

Judas becomes a spy at this point. Now he is in the midst of Jesus, but he is “spying,” waiting for the most opportune time to hand Him over. 

So, Judas is close to Jesus and he spends a lot of time with Him. However, he also makes a serious decision to turn his back on Christ. For those of us who are committed to living the Faith (spending time in daily prayer, attending Mass each Sunday, living a moral life in accordance with the Church), we must always be honest about the fact that we are tempted to become Judas. Because of this fact, it is helpful to know as much as we can about Judas. 

There was something in Judas that was heroic and holy. If that was not the case, then Jesus would never have called him. Those traits are inside all of us. Judas witnessed miracles and the greatest sermons of Jesus with his own eyes and ears. He had to have been moved to awe and wonder about this man who spoke in a way that captivated people’s minds and who looked at others in a way that changed the direction of their lives.  There was something in Judas that was heroic and holy. If that was not the case, then Jesus would never have called him.Tweet This

We first encounter the sinful side of Judas after Mary (the sister of Lazarus) anoints Jesus’ feet with costly perfume. She had watched Christ raise her brother from the dead and desired to shower Him with some form of praise. Judas witnessed this and said in reply, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” The Gospel writer goes on to explain, “He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions” (John 12:5-6). 

The desire for the monetary stability and influence of Jesus’ ministry was more important than showing Christ reckless love and honor. Money must have been something that Judas was familiar with and good at managing. But it was also clearly something that he had an unhealthy attachment to because we know that in return for handing Jesus over, he was given 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). 

We also know that when Jesus is with the Twelve at the Last Supper, He foretells that they will fall away. He predicts that Peter will deny Him and that one of them will betray Him to His enemies. One of those whom Jesus shares the first Eucharist with will hand Him over to His death (Mark 14:18-21). All of this was foreshadowed in the words of the psalmist:

Even my trusted friend,
who ate my bread,
has raised his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)

This was written by a man, but it was spoken by God through that psalm writer. How often do we partake of Holy Communion and then quickly deny Christ through our sinful inclinations to anger, gossip, lust, and pride? We can also apply the words of Jesus to Judas to our own hearts. He tells Judas, and the Twelve, that temptation is coming. And yet, they still choose it.

The Catholic Church defines moral truths in a similar way. She explains and tells us what is bad for us, but we still choose it. The challenge of Judas is to hear the truth about sin and cling to Christ who can lift us out of it. 

We must also consider the manner in which Judas betrayed Jesus—he does so with a kiss (Matthew 26:49). Not only does he choose an intimate manner, essentially mocking the relationship he has with Christ, he also tells the Jewish leaders that he will single Jesus out with a kiss (Matthew 26:48).  

Yet again, we see that proximity with Jesus does not automatically mean that we are holy. Spending time with Him does not mean that we are free from mocking Him in our actions. We might not deny Jesus formally, but do we reject Him in our words and actions toward others?

Finally, the end of Judas’ life is detailed for us: 

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, deeply regretted what he had done. He returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? Look to it yourself.” Flinging the money into the temple, he departed and went off and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:3-5) 

Judas spied against Christ. He rejected Him following the reception of the Eucharist. And he handed Him over with a kiss. But his conscience ate away at him in the aftermath. His true heart and desire for Jesus shined in his regret, but it ended with his unwillingness to believe that he could be forgiven. That is what separated Judas from Peter. Both disciples rejected Jesus, ignored His caution against sin, and were unwilling to love Him in His final hours. 

However, one of them believed he could be forgiven. He trusted enough in the love of Jesus that he could be brought to even deeper intimacy with Him despite his threefold denial. So, while the spy is inside all of us—while we all choose to sin and deny Jesus in our actions—we are all given the chance for forgiveness if we enable our regret to turn into repentance. 

May the sin of Judas—and Peter—prepare us for a more powerful Triduum as we see what our sin did to Christ and what Christ did to the power of evil itself. Admit that you can be a spy, and run toward the empty tomb for forgiveness. 

[Image Credit: Shutterstock]