Michelle Hanson

Okay, here is a mystery to me. God's plan was that Jesus would serve as the sacrificial lamb. Part of the plan was that he would be betrayed by the kiss of Judas. So Judas performed a task planned by God to fulfill His redemption of mankind, right? I don't get why Jesus told Judas it would be better that he not have been born at all. I mean, Judas' role in the condemnation and murder of the Christ was preordained by God, himself. Why then would God, in the form of human Jesus, tell Judas it would have been better had he not been born? Seems like Judas was an important key figure in the fruition of God's redemptive plan for mankind. Things that make me go hmm...

Hi - Thank you, Mickey for asking this question. It's great to inquire. Inquisitive minds, like mine, want to know! It starts us all thinking on this, and, hopefully looking up everything we can find about Judas. Looking at our footnotes in our bibles. Asking questions of others as to what they think of Judas. It's exciting to me. I love this. Thanks.

Anyway, that's what I did . . . went on a quest to find answers as best as my little pea-brain can understand. And lo and behold I turn on the TV and there is a program on about the passion and resurrection. And a lot of it was about Judas! The whole point of the program was the prophecies foretold in the old testament about the death and resurrection of Jesus! 500 to 1,000 years BEFORE Jesus even came to be! That was amazing to me.

All of the gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - have this story, the story of Judas' betrayal of Jesus, in them. So much can be gleaned from all of them, and they fit together to form a picture of what happened. I find it most interesting that in John 13:27 it says "at that instant, after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him (Judas), . Jesus then said 'what you are going to do, do quickly'. then verse 30: "as soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out." Vs. 31 - When he had gone Jesus said: 'Now has the Son of Man has been glorified . . . .' (Read John Chapter 13 and read what else is there). The passion has begun, since Judas has just gone out to do Satan's work. Jesus speaks of His victory as already being won. See John 16:33 "I have conquered the world.".

Later on, after Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss (you can read of this in the gospels), he was so shamed. He said "I have betrayed innocent blood." and he took his precious 30 pieces of silver and threw them at the court. He couldn't wash away his shame and guilt and went out and hung himself. The place where he hung himself is called the Potter's Field, and is still there and still named that!

I could just go on and on, but I will end now, just saying - read these gospels for yourself. Go to the cross references in your footnotes and put together your understanding of it all. And read Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. Written hundreds of years before. It's so amazing! God is speaking to us through the scriptures yet today. "alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Better for that man if he had never been born!" means to me that I would be better off not being born if I turn my back on Jesus! When I follow Jesus I have everything I could ever need, just like Judas had, but if I turn my back on Him, and choose a different one to follow, if I turn to Satan and his evil ways, like Judas did, then I will hate my life, I will be better off to not have been born! Judas was greatly tempted by the worldly pull of what money could do for him! He took a measly 30 pieces of silver in exchange for betraying His Lord! Turning away from Jesus. Big mistake!