Mercy for Betrayers

It is commonly held, though not explicitly stated in Scripture, that Judas was a Zealot. This is gathered by looking at the etymology of his last name: Iscariat may be related to the word sicarii, which means “dagger-men,” referring to a group of men belonging to the radical Zealots, carrying daggers with them at all times ready to assassinate traitors. The hypocrisy here is ironic but not surprising: extremist politics, idolizing a party to the neglect of one’s love for God and the respect for human dignity is hypocrisy per se. The man on the most vehement quest for traitors finds himself chief among them. 

The man who aggressively seeks justice frustrates himself into self-destruction, since he who seeks justice to the neglect of mercy will sooner be found by justice.

But we must ask: why would Jesus bring into his group a thuggish man? Certainly he knew what the nature of Judas was and he could’ve found someone more fit? We can propose a theory: Jesus didn’t call people who were worthy or adequate for the Gospel to serve, the calling itself made them worthy and adequate. 

Judas sold Jesus for a small price and we have shamed him for two thousand years for it. You and I have sold him for much less; a little hit to our ego and we toss the Lord’s mercy right out preferring our own anger, sending him to the Roman guard; a couple minutes of pleasure is enough for us to betray Christ to his scourging; and even when he asks us to spend some time with him, we prefer to know what happens next on the show we’re watching. It isn’t that Judas isn’t so bad, it’s that we aren’t so different. 

It is true that we daily betray the Lord, but in his mercy he has accepted it from us and even transforms it for us, provided that we turn to him, spend time with him, seek to serve him, and prefer him to all things.