EACH OF US HAS A CHARACTER FLAW. JUDAS' WAS MONEY. Other flaws can be cruelty; unbridled sensuality at the cost of others; arrogance and the rejection of the Supremacy of God to name but a few.
The good news is that with God's Grace and Jesus' offer of salvation, we can work to effectively overcome the personal flaws we inherited through the Fall of humanity.
We can then rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of our broken nature to a transcendent new and godly character.
Betrayal
Judas eventually betrayed Jesus into the hands of His enemy satan.
Judas did not have full knowledge of the consequences of what he was doing.
However, his personal flaw of character, weakness in the face of the fascination that the power of money can exert, blinded Judas to the goodness of Jesus and the possible consequences of his own actions.
Thus Judas sold his God-given offer of one of the twelve thrones of Israel in eternity, for the bribe of thirty pieces of earthly beaten metal.
Repentance
Later, sick with heart at the results of his action he was unable - although he desperately tried - to reverse the inexorable sequence of events he had ignited.
Judas was driven temporarily out of his wits with remorse and punished himself by dreadful hanging.
Surely this man, bereft of his eternal throne and the close friendship he had enjoyed with Jesus the Son of God was now the most sorrowful of men.
And surely, too, he threw himself headlong from the tree into the limitless ocean of the mercy of God.
Name, blame and shame
It is easy to look at Judas and name, blame and shame him as betrayer.
Many of us too, struggle with the lure of wealth.
We are tempted to make hasty decisions without due and prudent thought of the consequences.
Often we, too, do not fully treasure our relationships and friendships, and the impact our actions have on the lives of others.
Many a time we have been sick with heart at the results of actions we have taken, and would give anything to turn the clock back.
The good news is, all is not in vain.
Through the Goodness of God and the mercy of His grace, we come out of each experience with greater wisdom and knowledge of how to behave with greater maturity in the future.
It is always such a temptation to name, blame and shame another caught out in a personal falling short of perfection.
They are the scapegoat. They are the one to be ostracised.
They will surely be harshly judged by God.
Template of penitence
The truth is, that there is a little [gasp, horror! dare I say it?] of Judas in all of us.
Perhaps that is why he was so vilified in the Gospels.
He was overcome by the need for quick and easy money.
Many of us have struggled with that temptation.
He was fed up with being second in a relationship, and jealous of Jesus' supremacy with the crowds.
He was jealous of another. Often, so are we.
The full picture of Judas is that, despite his weakness and his wrongdoing, he was humble.
He went to those who had bribed him, and begged them to take back the bribe.
He did all he could to offer restitution, even throwing the money to them and refusing to keep it.
When he could not reverse the awful fate of Jesus, his underlying love and friendship of Jesus - no longer blighted by jealousy and the need for money - came to the fore.
Overcome by grief and horror at the torture which was being meted out to that best and kindest of men, Jesus, he condemned himself.
And carried out self-execution.
Judgement
At his judgement, a great and merciful God would look not only at the moments of wrongdoing.
He would look at a son of a mother and father; a brother who had played with siblings.
He would see the studious young man who had started out on a career with high hopes and zealous nature.
God would sift the moments of love for others; the many small human kindnesses; the moments of indecision and despair; the loneliness of discipleship.
He would look over the moments of witness when Judas followed the Christ - a call others refused.
God would see the people Judas, through his discipleship, had brought to Him.
Tears of remorse
And this tearful, repentant and remorseful man surely would be treated gently by the Greatest Father of all time.
Tears of remorse can wash a soul clean; a moment of repentance can save a sinner.
Judas was, too, caught up in the darkness engendered by the archenemy of Jesus.
Resurrection?
Judas - died from a tree, and waiting when Jesus came to call the dead from the graves.
When the souls of those who had gone before were freed from the sentence of banishment from God - which occurred in the Fall - they went joyfully into the city of Jerusalem to greet their nearest and dearest.
Is it too much to wonder whether that bruised and repentant disciple was humbly called forth as well by the Friend Who forgives seventy times seven ... ?
Image by Rev Catherine
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