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 WHY DID JUDAS BETRAY JESUS? We don't know. The Gospels say that Judas went to the religious leaders and offered to hand Jesus over, and that they paid him 30 silver coins (about four months' wages for a labourer). Maybe it was purely the money. But then choosing to be a follower of Jesus involved great financial sacrifices. Why would someone so cynically materialistic ever have become one of his closest disciples? One theory has it that Judas was frustrated by Jesus, and thought that by handing him over to the authorities he would force Jesus' hand, and bring events to a crisis. Another explanation is that Judas was disillusioned with Jesus. Jesus was generally expected to lead a glorious military and political campaign (as well as religious), liberating Palestine from Roman occupation. Many people were attracted to Jesus for this reason. In fact, Jesus's intention was to die at the hands of the Romans – a very different plan. You can imagine why some of his followers might feel bitterly betrayed when they realised this. More questions about Jesus' life |
Picture: the Isenheim Altarpiece, by Matthias Grünewald, painted in the 16th century. |
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