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Good evening Father Angelo Bellon,

I just read a book that I got from the library called “Jesus and Judas” by Amos Oz.

In this text the author cannot find an explanation as to why Judas, a wealthy landowner, needed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (basically nothing) and why he gave a kiss to indicate who Jesus was. If He had been in fact a very well known character to the priests and the crowds, this wouldn’t have been needed.

Finally, I was struck by the violent reaction of Jesus in the temple driving out the merchants, when he preaches to love your enemies and to turn the other cheek.

These are questions that I am struggling to find an answer to and I wanted to hear your opinion.

Greetings

Andrew 

Priest’s answer

Dear Andrea,

1. Amos Oz is a novelist and therefore describes Judas as a wealthy landowner, which is a notion not confirmed by the Gospels.

In reading some biographies of Jesus, written by biblical teachers, I never found any mention of the fact that Judas was wealthy.

But even if he was wealthy, this is not inconsistent with being covetous.

2. One thing is certain: Judas was initially fascinated by the figure of Jesus, otherwise he would not have agreed to become an apostle.

At a certain point, however, we find him lacking in faith, as described in chapter six of John’s Gospel, so much so that Jesus comes out toward him with this expression, “’Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?’ He was referring to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot; it was he who would betray him, one of the Twelve.” (John 6:70-71).

On that occasion, after hearing that Jesus had said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” ( Jn 6:51) “many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” (Jn 6:66).

The Gospel then records these words of Jesus, “But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.” (Jn 6:64).

3. When many turned away, Jesus asked his apostles: “Do you also want to leave?”(Jn. 6:67) to which St. Peter replied, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn. 6:68-69).

Judas, though he did not believe, made it seem that he was agreeing with Peter.

He was in fact no longer in unison with his Master.

4. Why did he choose to remain among the apostles?

The Dominican Marie-Joseph Lagrange writes: “Having come to him for reasons of interest and ambition, he must have felt then displeased in his cupidity and pride. 

An unknown circumstance had changed his sympathy for the master into aversion.

Why then, has he not left as others did?

Jesus, while still not wanting to be believed to be mistaken, endured to be in the presence of those who would betray him” (The Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 221).

5. Another episode that gives insight into Judas’ interests is the following. When Jesus was in the house of Lazarus, who had just been raised from the dead, and Mary his sister was anointing Jesus’ feet with a jar of very precious perfume, Judas was displeased, and remarked that it would have been better to have sold that perfume and given the proceeds to the poor.

In other words: in the meantime, the money would end up in his hands because the Lord had entrusted the treasury to him.

“He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.”(John 12:6).

If John says he was a thief, it means he had caught him red-handed.

Judas continued to stand with Jesus out of interest.

Father Lagrange writes, “Stingy and worried about the future, he set aside money” (Ib., p. 418).

6. Judas indeed had an inkling that something was happening around Jesus. And this became even clearer when the Lord defended Mary’s behavior by saying, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial.” (Jn. 12:7).

Father Lagrange commented: “Jesus had never announced his imminent death so forcefully. He saw himself already lying down, embalmed at the hands of the pious women…. 

For his part, Judas was convinced that he could no longer rely on him: since he was a lost cause, it was better to try and profit from him. Therefore, the idea entered his heart to betray him, an idea that was amplified by what had just happened (…).

He had ceased to trust his leader, whom he had perhaps never loved, as at first he had delusional ideas of grandeur, that afterwards left him discouraged” (Ib., p. 418).

This is the reason why, according to St. Matthew, it is Judas who presents himself to the priests to receive money as a repayment of his treason: “Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ]and said, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’” (Mt. 26:14-15).

7. Concerning the kiss: it is true that Jesus was known to the crowds, but it was nighttime.

Moreover, it is likely that those brought by Judas did not precisely know Jesus because “Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.” (Jn 18:3).

To make haste in the arrest, Judas had given the warning, “The man I shall kiss is the one” (Mt 26:48).

8. Moreover, the leader of the soldiers was the commander, a Roman tribune (cf. Jn 18:12). Father Lagrange writes: “The arrest had been prepared by the chief priests: they had supplied the men and armed them with swords and clubs. For greater security, however, they had asked the Roman tribune in charge of mounting the guard in the temple for a team from the cohort stationed in Jerusalem. (…). The tribune came in person bringing some soldiers who, according to the order, had weapons and torches. (…) St. John, who is the only one to remember the presence of the tribune, naturally put him in the place of honor” (Ib., pp. 525-526).

With the device of the kiss, Jesus’ arrest was immediate.

9. Finally, you ask why Jesus uses so much violence in driving the merchants out of the temple.

Yes, it is true he used a lot of force: “He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace”. His disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”” (Jn. 2:14-17). 

For us, the chaos of that market is unimaginable: the Oriental people are not like us, that pay without hesitation the price given.

Orientals bargain: the seller raises the price and the customer lowers it. And they go on and on until they reach an agreement.

In the temple, there was shouting coming from every corner and sound of complaining by many, among the noise of herds of oxen and sheep and dove sellers.

The historian Josephus Flavius says that the high priests had obtained a monopoly on sales. And they sold by the weight of gold the doves that were the sacrifice of the poor.

Being in prayer and union with God there was completely impossible.

The temple had been built precisely for this purpose: to be in payer and union with God.

Moreover, how could one offer sacrifices to God with a glad heart, when he had not only just bargained, but was subjected to the violence and blackmail of the merchants?

Father Lagrange writes: “Jesus did not tolerate this desecration. With no other mandate than that of the Son of God, he did not want the Father’s house to be turned into a marketplace, and arming his hand with a scourge of rapidly grouped ropes he drove out of there all that riffraff ready to flee, then reached the slower herd which he pushed before him, and tore down the abandoned tables of the money changers with the whole assortment of the loose currency” (Ib., p. 87).

It is astonishing that all those merchants (a multitude) were unable to resist before the Lord and fled.

One can understand this only by thinking that here Jesus acted with the power of his divinity, in the face of which no one was able to resist.

10. Why then did Jesus act with such power?

Because the zeal of the house of God devoured him.

This is the reason understood by the apostles, “His disciples recalled the words of scripture, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’” (Jn. 2:17).

Yes, concerning himself, he would have endured any outrage, any kind of suffering.

But he would rigorously never tolerate the Father’s house being desecrated.

I thank you for all these questions that bring us back to the most serious and most solemn moment in our history: our Lord’s redemptive passion.

With the hope that you will immerse yourself more and more in this mystery, I bless you and remember you in prayer.

Father Angelo