What does it take for you to give up Jesus?

“What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you? They paid him thirty pieces of silver.” (Matthew 26:15)

We are familiar with the story of Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus. It is during the Easter season we most often hear about the betrayal by a friend. It does us good, however, to ask ourselves what it would take for us to betray Jesus.

It may seem as if we could boldly and confidently proclaim, “Nothing. I’ll never sell out or betray Jesus.” I am sure, at the beginning, Judas might have thought the same thing. Peter thought that way until fear drove him to betrayal and denial. Let’s not forget that Judas was a disciple of Christ. In fact, we know he healed the sick and cast out demons with the authority given to him by Christ.

“Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; Judas, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, ‘Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go, rather, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons, without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” (Matthew 10:1-8)

Judas was one of the twelve that proclaimed the message of salvation, healed lepers, and cured diseases. He was even given the authority to raise the dead. We are not told exactly what miracles were performed when the apostles were sent out to preach and heal. We do not know for sure what miracles Judas Iscariot was responsible for, but we know he had the authority and power of Christ to do any miracles the other apostles were able to perform. We can surmise that since he has this authority that Christ indeed worked through him to perform many miracles of healing, perhaps even raising the dead. The Lord Jesus knew Judas would betray Him, yet He gave him authority to cast out demons, heal, and restore life. We are not to be so quick to judge Judas before looking at ourselves.

Judas got greedy. He was stealing money from Jesus and the Apostles, but it didn’t seem like enough. Perhaps he was angry at Jesus because he was not establishing the earthly kingdom for which the Jews expected of the Messiah. There are theories that believe he was angry over the Bread of Life Discourse. Whatever the reason, we know there was a point at which Judas Iscariot decided Jesus was not enough.

We, too, act as if Jesus is not enough when we choose to spend the day boating on the lake rather than going to Mass on Sunday. We say Jesus is not enough when we stay home and watch a football game as opposed to going to Mass. (or buy tickets and go to the game instead of Mass) Our actions say Jesus is not enough when we cheat on taxes, watch pornography, commit adultery, hold unforgiveness in our hearts toward someone, gossip, cheat, lie, steal, judge others, or become arrogant. We sell Jesus out to the sins that entice us for which we fall. We betray Jesus by turning our back on His commands as opposed to living righteously.

What does it take for you to betray Jesus? A careful examination of our conscious regarding our betrayals and selling Him out will enable us to repent and, hopefully, prevent us from doing it again. We must not be so bold and prideful as to believe we will never betray Jesus. We should never be arrogant enough to convince ourselves we are not like Judas. We play the role of Judas every time we give up Jesus for something this world offers us.