In Politics, Everyone Has a Price

Spy Wednesday marks the day that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, setting forth the motions that would lead to Jesus’ crucifixion. The name Iscariot possibly comes from the Latin sicarius, meaning “murderer” or “assassin.” There was later a splinter group of the Zealots called Sicarii who opposed Roman occupation. Some carried knives and attacked Romans and Roman sympathizers. Their terrorism increased in the decades preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70. The Sicarri rose after Judas’ time, but he would have been around during the same growing political tension that led to them. There was increasing frustration with Roman occupation and more and more Jewish men were becoming radicalized, willing to violently resist.

It is possible that Judas was more devoted to politics than religion. He may have been a nationalist who wanted the Messiah to come, not to save the people of Israel but to defeat the Romans and give Israel political power. As Jesus’ ministry continued but preached more about the kingdom of heaven than the overthrow of worldly empire, Judas could have grown resentful. Anyone not committed to his political vision was the enemy.

Judas’ politics is speculative, but it’s plausible. Mixing politics and religion, and further placing politics over religion, is a recipe for disaster. Winning becomes more important than truth. Power becomes more important than good. Jesus did not come to be a nationalist hero. A national dagger-man, lost in his myopic ambitions, could not see the Messiah, even when he was right in front of him, offering him the bread of life.

It’s a dire warning to us all to not place our hopes in worldly politics. Politics matter and affect our lives. But they are not more important than our souls. And when we combine politics and religion, religion will get twisted by the selfish, cut-throat aims of politics. There are so many who wrap their politics in religious-language; they think they are godly for their zealous politics. In reality, they have made an idol of their politics, a worldly, distorted faith that is far from the message of Christ.

What we do know about Judas is that he was tainted by greed. He stole from the collective purse. He chided Jesus for letting Mary anoint him with oil—and while he claimed that the money could have gone to the poor, it was clear he wanted the money back in the treasury, where he would have control over it. Finally, he sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver. It was not a lot, and it showed how little the chief priests’ and Judas valued Jesus. But it was a significant amount in another way: under the Law, a slave was 30 shekels of silver (Exodus 21:32).

When the prophet Zechariah grew impatient with the people, he broke his staff and said, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” They give him 30 shekels of silver, the price of a slave. Then “the Lord said to me, ‘Cast it into the treasury’—the lordly price at which I was paid off by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the Lord. Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” (Zechariah 11: 12-14).

Judas, after regretting his actions, tries to return the money to the chief priests, thus, cast it into the treasury. Yet, the priests know it is not lawful to put blood money in the treasury and use the money to buy a potter’s field. “Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me’” (Matthew 27: 9-10).

The priests and Judas didn’t like Jesus, further, they didn’t value him. His life was worth the price of the slave. Jesus, rather, knew the dignity of each person could not be measured by shekels. He willingly knelt down as a servant before his apostles and taught them how to be servants, not the type of men who buy them.

Power and money drives so much evil in the world. And that is nothing new. Judas is a warning. Whether it was radical nationalism or pure financial gain, he let selfishness drive him to betrayal and his own demise.