“Early in the morning, all the chief priests
and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him
over to Pilate, the governor. When
Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with
remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the
elders. ‘I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I
have betrayed innocent blood.’ ‘What is
that to us?’ they replied. ‘That’s your
responsibility.’ So Judas threw the
money into the temple and left. Then he
went away and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:1-5)
As soon as Jesus was condemned to death,
Judas realized what a horrible wrong he had committed, an innocent man was
going to die. There is something bold
and brave and positive about what Judas did then, he went to the leaders of the
Jews, returned the coins, and confessed his wrong. Perhaps he was hoping they would realize they
had been wrong to condemn Jesus. But the
leaders weren’t interested in what was right or wrong, only in taking care of
their problem, in getting rid of Jesus.
Failing to set right what he had done wrong,
Judas gave up. He gave up trying to help
Jesus. He gave up on life. What he had done was too horrible to even go
on living!
But it wasn’t! No sin is too great to exceed God’s capacity
to forgive. Judas turned to the leaders
of the Jews, but they couldn’t help Judas’s problem. Judas wouldn’t turn to the One who could
help. If he had, he would have found
forgiveness and compassion, not condemnation.
God would have forgiven Judas. No matter what our sin, God will forgive us,
too. Don’t despair and run from the only
One who can really help. Don’t run from
Him, run to Him!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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