Judas, an apostle.
That Judas should have been selected by Christ has occasioned much difficulty to Bible-readers. It is assumed that our Divine Lord, by his omniscient power, must have known what Judas really was, and what Judas would ultimately do. But it is so difficult for us to realize that, in gracious condescension, God put himself, in Christ, within the limitations and conditions of manhood; and as our Lord would not use his miraculous powers to provide for his own necessities, so he would not use his own miraculous knowledge to secure himself against the changes and possible crimes of his disciples. Keeping our thought of our Lord's divinity back in our minds, we are to see that, in the selection of Judas, our Lord acted as a good and wise teacher might today. He estimated the qualities of Judas, and his fitness for the apostolic office, and on the ground of these he called him. That Judas had some special fitnesses, which others than Christ could recognize, is shown in the fact that all agreed to his having the trust of the money (John 13:29). Possibly for his practical business abilities he was chosen. Our Lord was condescendingly pleased to order his human life on the earth by his ordinary intellectual abilities as a man, and not by his Divine omniscience. And in this lies the great marvel of his humiliation and limitation. Nothing is said, on the occasion of the call of the apostles, to mark Judas off in any way. He is, indeed, named last, but this may have been due to the subsequent feeling of his brethren against him. That Jesus did absolutely know the character of the betrayer is indicated in John 6:64, John 6:70, John 6:71; but his allusions to him were not at the time understood by the apostles. The evil side of his character comes to view in John 12:6. His plot for the betrayal of Jesus may be given in detail. The idea that he deluded himself to suppose that his action would bring matters to a crisis, and lead Christ to declare himself and set up his kingdom, seems hardly tenable. If such was his thought, his money-loving gaze was set oil securing the chief place of trust in the new kingdom. His vice was covetousness. These remarks indicate so fully the line of thought respecting the office and the character of Judas, that we need give little more than the main topics needing treatment. The effort should be made to show that a root of evil lay in the very disposition of Judas; the circumstances in which he was placed ought to have checked its growth, and even turned it from evil to good. Instead of this, the circumstances were misused—made to foster the evil into strength; and at last there came blossom and fruitage at which Judas himself, a little while before, would have shuddered. In this there is a solemn lesson for all time. We want to keep and cherish such a daily openness to God, that his grace shall sanctify all surrounding circumstances and influences to our good culture.
I. THE EARLY PROMISE. "Once fair for the celestial city." Singularly privileged in call to apostleship. Early sincerity without depth. Usefulness for business qualities.
II. THE FATAL TESTINGS. Privilege was too great. Trust of money tested his one great weakness—money-loving. Opportunity of peculation became too great a temptation. Life finds scenes that surely test what we really are.
III. THE AWFUL CRIME. The utter baseness of Judas's action should be fully shown. Intense moral indignation against all betrayers of trust or of friends is perfectly right. The infinite tenderness and long-suffering of the Lord Jesus make this betrayal the worst ever known on earth. Is it possible that men nowadays may commit Judas's crime? If so, how?
IV. THE MISERABLE END. Remorse came. It is ever bitter and hopeless. It drove to suicide. Judas hanged himself in the very field bought with the rewards of his iniquity; and, being heavy, when they cut him down his body was miserably broken in its fall. The story adds the uttermost shame to the worst of crimes.
Learn that one evil disposition, if unchecked, may poison a whole life; and that this is peculiarly true if the evil disposition be covetousness.—R.T.