Welcome to the end of Matthew. Today, we will read chapters 27-28.

 
A Different Perspective
 

This is the greatest story ever told. We have seen it in movies, heard a hundred sermons about it, and if we are Christians, we know it by heart. Rightfully so! There is nothing in history more significant than Jesus Christ dying for our sins, and we must be intimately familiar with every detail. I believe most of us are.

Today, however, I want to move our focus away from the cross and look at the other significant participant in this historical moment.

 
An Unlikely Fulfillment
 

We all love a good villain, and none could be more hate-worthy than Judas Iscariot. We should, however, realize what his primary sin was. It was not a betrayal of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples frequently (e.g., Matthew 16:21, Matthew 20:18-19) that someone would hand Him over to be crucified and that He would rise again. This was God’s plan from the beginning, as Acts 2:23 tells us that Jesus was “handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge.” God knew before the beginning of time that He would have to redeem us. Judas was fulfilling God’s purpose.

Then, Judas gives us some characteristics we should emulate. He recognizes his sin and has remorse. We’ve all been there—those moments of self-loathing when we realize our spiritual failures. We try to live a godly life, but there we are, doing the very things we don’t want to do, just as the Apostle Paul stated in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

Many times, we try to justify our actions, make excuses, or even cover them up. At least Judas had remorse, showed contrition, and tried to correct the wrong he had done. Jocko Willink might call this “Extreme Ownership.” (1) So deep was his repentance that he made restitution and gave the money back. It was the Jewish leaders who refused the payment and were unwilling to stop the persecution (v 27:4).

 
The Sin of Lost Faith
 

Judas’s greatest sin was his loss of faith. This did not lead to his betrayal—again, that was a fulfillment of God’s will. Jesus knew He would have to die; otherwise, the rest of humanity would remain condemned. No one took His life from Him; as He says in John 10:18, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”

Judas’s defining sin was that he didn’t seek Jesus’s forgiveness. Instead, he hanged himself and died. Because of his perceived unpardonable sin, he committed the terrible act of taking his own life. Some would say he got what he deserved, and in a way, he did—because he didn’t seek salvation. We all deserve the same death because we all sin (Romans 3:23, 6:23). Yet, God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), and that includes Judas Iscariot. But instead of going to God and asking for forgiveness, Judas went to the religious leaders.

 
From Dying for Jesus to Living for Him
 

In those days, and even now in some cultures, people went to religious leaders instead of approaching God directly. On the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Do you think for a moment He would have denied that same forgiveness to a remorseful Judas? I believe He would have offered it, but Judas never asked. It is our duty to admit our wrongs and accept the weight of our sin, even if it means admitting guilt for Christ’s blood. He didn’t die because of Judas; He died because of us.

I know people, including myself, who claim they would be honored to die for Jesus. In a tragic way, that is what Judas did. Instead, a genuine act of faith is to live for Jesus. It is answering the Great Commission, going out to all nations, and making disciples in His name (v 28:19). Judas could not do that because he went to the wrong people to seek redemption.

 
The Invitation to Grace
 

Let us learn from Judas’s tragic mistake. When sin overwhelms us, we should not seek solutions from the world or even religious structures. Let’s run to the One who paid the price for that sin, who is ready and willing to forgive.

Tomorrow, we will read Mark 1-2.
Footnotes
 

1 Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015).