“one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot”
Little is known of Judas, and little is written of him in the scriptures other than that of his ultimate betrayal of Jesus. We do know he was unique in that all the other Apostles were from Galilee except for Judas, who was from Iscariot, which meant man of Carioth, a city of Judah. [1]
All the gospels mention his betrayal and he was always last on the list of the apostles, “and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him” [2], “Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him whereas he was one of the twelve” [3]
Why did Jesus choose him among the twelve?For the same reason he calls everyone - so that we may see the way, the truth, and the life, and by seeing all this we can repent, and become saints. For Judas, he could have been just like the rest of the Apostles and been an amazing Saint, but instead he used his own free will to sell out to the chief priests. This sin leads him to despair, and ultimately to kill himself.
Why did he sell Jesus for 30 coins of silver? Within the apostles, Judas was responsible for the money and the income. According to John’s gospel this was not a great assignment for him because he referred to Judas as “a thief...who used to help himself to the contributions”.[4] We see also he condemned the use of the precious oil that was used on Jesus’ feet, and argued that the money should have gone to the poor. [5] This type of behavior of Judas led him to the sin of Avarice. Avarice is extreme greed for wealth and possessions.
This sin is what led him to go to the chief priests on his own accord. Remember he was not pressured to go to the priests to offer them Jesus, his own greed and Avarice lead him to want money to hand Jesus over. Judas was paid thirty pieces of silver which is roughly $1,000 in today’s standards. This would be a great deal to someone who is full of greed. All he has to do is lead the soldiers to Jesus, single him out with a kiss, and that is it. Sadly, we know that there is no price we can put on our faith, and yet Judas did.
Why did Jesus allow Judas to eat at the last supper?There could be a number of reasons why Jesus would allow this to happen. First, he could have hoped the grace of the Last Supper may have changed Judas’ heart. More importantly, Jesus did not deny Judas’ free will. There are many people today who receive Holy Communion without being in a state of grace and may or may not be aware of it. Jesus allows us all to come to the table to receive his body. Our prayer before Mass should be that we are in a state of grace to receive him and not be like Judas who received Him and still sent him to death.
The Church has a teaching called “Opere Operato”, which means in Latin, “from the work done”. This teaching means that the Sacraments are effective and give Grace just because they are instituted by Christ. The sinfulness of a priest for example does not affect the efficacy of the Sacrament and then Grace it gives. The Grace is there, when the Sacrament is there. The disposition or openness of the one receiving the Sacrament is extremely important. Just because the Grace is there, does not mean that a person is open to receiving it. We receive the Grace in proportion to our openness. We see that Judas was not open and thus he received no Grace. We see in the Annunciation, the openness of Mary, who is “full of Grace.”
How can we prepare ourselves to receive Christ worthily?In order to greet our King worthily we can fast and pray. The following prayer is titled “Direct your intention”, which is exactly what we should do before receiving Our Lord. “O Lord Jesus Christ, King of everlasting glory, behold I desire to come to Thee this day, and to receive Thy Body and Blood in this heavenly Sacrament, for Thy honor and glory, and the good of my soul. I desire to receive Thee, because it is Thy desire, and Thou has so ordained: blessed be Thy name for ever. I desire to come to Thee like Saint Mary Magdalen, that I may be delivered from all my evils, and embrace Thee, my only good. I desire to come to Thee, that I may be happily united to Thee, that I may henceforth abide in Thee, and Thou in me; and that nothing in life or death may ever separate me from Thee.” [6] There are many prayers such as the Anima Christi and the prayers by Saint Ambrose and Saint Thomas Aquinas specifically written to be prayed prior to Communion.
Why did Jesus allow Judas to give him up?This was the attributed hour. Christ knew the hour had come when He said, “Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.” (Matthew 26:45) Jesus knew He could not run away from his destiny, his mission here on earth. We too will be handed over to others who may give false testimony against us. We must always be prayerful and ready for when the time comes and stand ready to defend ourselves not with words or swords but in our faith in God the Father.
Why did Judas kill himself? When Judas had learned that Jesus was to be executed, he was filled with sadness and despair. [7]
Could Judas have not killed himself and repented? Yes! We all have free will, the free choice to do the sin, but also to repent, and do the good again.Bishop Fulton Sheen, in his book Life of Christ, devoted a chapter to the betrayal by Judas, contrasting it with the betrayal by Peter. Remember in today’s gospel, Saint Peter was also told by Christ that he was going to deny Him three times, and he did. However, unlike Judas, Peter repented and was forgiven. Because of this, Peter became the first pope and one of the greatest saints to have ever lived. Fulton Sheen concluded that the tragedy of Judas’s life was that even after the betrayal, he could have been St. Judas Iscariot [and probably also one of the greatest saints to have ever lived] if only he had repented instead of despaired. The sin against the Holy Spirit, the one that cannot be forgiven, is the sin of final impenitence. God can forgive any repented sin, but man must repent of his sins before he can be forgiven.
How would Judas’ life been different if he had repented instead of killing himself?
Is Judas in Hell? Jesus did say, “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born”. [8] In Acts of the Apostles we read, "Then they prayed, 'You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.' ” [9] There are only two "places", our own place apart from God, which is hell and communion or a place with God, which is heaven.
[1] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08539a.htm
[2] Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16
[3] John 6:71-2
[4] Jn 12:6
[5] John 12:1-8
[6] Roman Catholic Daily Missal (1962); Devotions before Communion
[7] Matthew 27: 3-5
[8] Matt. 26:24
[9] Acts 1:24-215