Holy Week - Pt. 2

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 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 27:3-10 ESV).

 

One of the key characters as the story of Holy Week unfolds is also the least regarded, Judas Iscariot. Because of that, the despair of Judas is an event in Holy Week that often evades deeper scrutiny. His is a wilderness that often escapes our sympathy. Yet, the message is important. Often it feels like we have reached a barren place from which there is no return. It appears that this is the place Judas found himself after the betrayal of Jesus. Through the years I have met and ministered to many people who felt they had reached such a place from which there could be no forgiveness or restoration.

 

For some it may be a lifestyle of destructive addictions, while others may have committed a sin for which there seems no coming back from. Many years ago, while serving as the pastor of a church in Huntsville, Texas, I often was called on to speak and counsel with some of the inmates of the various prisons in the area. On more than one occasion I was called by the warden to come and speak to one of the inmates concerning their guilt and shame. In all but one of those encounters I saw the wonder of God’s grace as it broke through their shame. While the consequences of their crimes were not changed, they were changed.

 

It is never too late to be forgiven in this life. Wherever you are, whatever you have done, you need not feel the hopelessness of Judas. His error was in turning to other men for his forgiveness. Only Jesus can forgive. And, He has secured that forgiveness by the payment of our debt in full with His blood! Come to Him!