Everyone knows the story of Judas Iscariot. I thought I knew the story of Judas Iscariot. I thought his story would be an easy and straightforward blog post. Because why not? He has become one of the most hated individuals in the Bible. Jesus called him “a devil” (John 6:70-71). To many, he is the villain in Jesus’s story. Throughout history, believers have used his story to humiliate their enemies. He has been hated for his betrayal. He has been pitied. He couldn’t have known what his actions would set in motion. Some even called him a hero of sorts for simply playing his part in God’s plan (Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12,13). While Jesus chose Judas as a disciple, Judas would betray him. Who was Judas? Why would he betray Jesus? What motivations were at work? Why would he jeopardize his relationship with Jesus? What lesson can we take from his life?
Little is known about Judas’ life before he was chosen by Jesus. It is believed that he came from the town of Kerioth in Judea. Iscariot is Greek derived from the Hebrew ish Kerioth or man of Kerioth (Tate, 2025). His name means “praised” and would have been the fourth most common name of the time, behind Lazarus, Joseph and Simon (Tate, 2025). However, he was known as treacherous and greedy. Judas was a thief as keeper of the money bag and he would help himself to its contents (John 12:6). He would betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16) and a kiss (Matthew 26:48-49, Mark 14:43-51, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:1-11). After he saw Jesus condemned by the Jewish High Council, Judas returned the blood money and killed himself (Matthew 27:3-10, Acts 1:18-19). The saddest statement about Judas is he was so remorseful that he committed suicide and yet he was unrepentant (Tate, 2025). To contrast with Peter’s denial. Peter was remorseful, repented and was restored. It is the different paths remorse can lead us. One without repentance leads to destruction and one with repentance leads to forgiveness.
Judas, like all the disciples, misunderstood Jesus’ mission on earth. They expected Jesus to make political moves and yet he spoke of dying. The Irish band U2 has a great song Until the End of the World (1991 album Achtung Baby) which gives a picture to Judas’s possible internal monologue. The constant topic must have led to feelings of anger, fear and disappointment. When Jesus praised Mary for pouring the perfume (John 12:1-8), Judas’s greed for money and status blinded him to the significance of Mary’s gesture. His desires allowed him to be in a place to be manipulated, seeking favor with the religious leaders instead and when he tried to undo what he had done, it was too late. God’s sovereign plan was already moving. It was not God who rejected Judas, but Judas who rejected God (Winger, 2022). The exact motivation of Judas’ betrayal is unknown; however, it is theorized that he was trying to force Jesus’ hand, He may have wanted to see Jesus fight back and to rebel against the Romans and set up a new Jewish government. Was he hoping for a prominent place in this new kingdom? Judas’s misunderstanding of Jesus’s mission on earth reminds me, once again, that God’s thoughts and plans are not our thoughts and plans (Isaiah 55:8-9). I cannot pretend to understand his thoughts; but I trust he knows more than I do.
Judas didn’t lose his relationship with Jesus because he didn’t have one in the first place. One important clue is in Matthew 26:20-30 at the Last Supper. When Jesus spoke about the one who would betray him, the other disciples asked “Surely not, I Lord?” (verse 22) except Judas who asked “Surely, not I, Rabbi?” (verse 25). He was called the “doomed to destruction” (John 17:12). He is a great example of how a person can hear amazing biblical teachings, say and do all the right things and still reject Christ (Faith Bible Church, 2020). There are still Judases among us today. Paul warns in 1 Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” Men and women who will publicly convert to Christianity and yet do horrible acts. Men and women who will service in ministry and yet walk away. We are told to examine ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5) and test ourselves to see if we are in the faith. The saddest aspect of Judas’s story is he took his life not realizing he could seek forgiveness and he would have received it from Jesus. You can’t outsin the grace of God, but you must seek his grace to receive it (Tate, 2025).
The key lessons from Judas’s life are simple and highlight what evil can do in our lives. First, evil, hateful thoughts and motives leave us open to being used for an even greater evil plan of Satan. We must guard our hearts as Proverbs 4:23 calls the hearts “the wellspring of life,” Paul tells that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Jesus and think on praiseworthy things (Philippians 4:7-8). Second, the consequences of evil are so devastating even small lives and little wrongdoings have serious effects. Judas’s story gives us the opportunity for self-reflection on how small ethical compromises can lead to significant moral failures (Roat, 2024). Third, God’s plans and purposes work out even in the worst possible events. God was not blindsided by this betrayal, he used it to help bring salvation to the world (Roat, 2024). Judas’s story helps us evaluate our own relationship with Jesus and our commitment to God. We can ask ourselves: are we true disciples? Or are we uncommitted pretenders? Judas is an example that you can have an abundance of knowledge of who Jesus is, and even experience life with him, and still reject him (Faith Bible Church, 2022).
Before studying Judas’s story, he was a man I despised. He walked with Jesus and yet betrayed him. After studying his life, I felt pity for him. To be so close to Jesus and yet not see him. I also found myself asking. What would I have done? In conclusion, Judas is a tragic character. Tragic because he is an example that it is not enough to be familiar with Jesus’ teachings. True followers love and obey Jesus and his teachings. Judas’s failure to have a true relationship with Jesus is terrifying. To have someone that close to Jesus and do something so terrible should be a sobering reminder to us all. For Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” I pray that we all truly know Jesus and follow him.
James is one of the first disciples called by Jesus along with his brother, John, and friends, Simon Peter and Andrew. A fisherman working with his brother and their father, Zedebee, James would become a member of the core group with Peter and John for special training as each would play a key role in the early church. Peter would be the great speaker, John the majority writer and James would be the first to die for his faith. While he was chosen to be among the inner circle, little is known about James after the events in the Book of Acts. Who was James, the son of Zedebee? What were his strengths and weaknesses? What is the key lesson we can take from his story?
James is described as ambitious, short-tempered, judgmental and yet deeply committed to Jesus. Ambitious as he, along with John, asked Jesus for a place of honor in his kingdom, specifically a seat on his right and left (Mark 10:37). Jesus rebukes them, telling them both that they do not truly understand what they are asking. As with all the disciples, James did not understand Jesus’s true purpose. They envisioned Jesus overthrowing the Romans and restoring Israel’s to her former glory. Regardless, James knew he wanted to be by Jesus’s side. He had found the right leader; he was just wrong about the timetable. It would take Jesus’s death and resurrection for true understanding. James would have an outburst of temper. In Luke 9:54, he and John asked Jesus if he wanted them to call down first from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village after they refused to welcome him (verses 52-53). He wanted quick retaliation. In Acts, he would speak at the First Council and agreed that Jesus had come for Gentiles as well as the Jews (Acts 15:13-21) as the requirements of faith that we follow are set by God and not by man.
James would be the first to die for his faith. He was willing as he saw Jesus conquer death and open the doorway to eternal life. James was a man with strengths and weaknesses. His strengths are simple to understand. He was one of the 12 disciples and one of the inner three. He would be the first to die for his faith. However, it is in his weakness that we can see ourselves. His two outbursts indicated that James struggled with a temper and selfishness. When he left a wrong had been committed, he wanted quick payback. A feeling that many of us have experienced from time to time. Something happens which is unfair or undeserving and we want the person to feel the same pain and disappointment that we do. However, in Romans 12:19, Paul reminds us that revenge is the Lord’s, he will play, quoting Deutoronmy 32:35. We are not to overcome evil with evil, but with good (Romans 12:21). And like James, we experience moments of selfishness. It is a part of being human. As selfishness is the root of sin and conflict, we need to actively focus on humility and putting others before ourselves in order to overcome this natural response. Paul writes in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Jesus promised eternal life to those willing to trust him (John 3:16). If we believe in this promise, Jesus will give us the courage to stand for Him and face whatever challenges that come our way, even during the most dangerous times. The key lesson from James’s story is that the loss of life is not too heavy a price to pay for following Jesus. In Matthew 10:17-42, Jesus prepared his disciples, and us, for persecution, in which he says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (verse 39).” Even Paul writes in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” To live meant to have time to tell others about Christ and to become more like him. To die would be the end of the worldly troubles and to see Christ face to face. As times get harder and the world increasingly puts pressure on believers, will I be able to stand when death would be the result? I don’t know. I can only pray that if (or when) that moment comes, I can say “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
In conclusion, James, the son of Zedebee, was a fisherman who left life as he knew it to follow Jesus. Even though he was one of the 12 and one of the inner three, he struggles with his ambitious nature, a temper and selfishness. Through his faith and trust in Jesus, he realized the true mission of Jesus’s life and death, he would spend the rest of his life telling others the good news. He would be the first to die for the faith and he certainly wasn’t the last. James is an example of the courage in service to Christ is important as we spread the gospel. That courage can also make us a target for persecution. We need to be bold for Christ with courage and humility.
This weekend is the anniversary of the famous duel between
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. At dawn on July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr and
Alexander Hamilton met at Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton would later die the
following afternoon on July 12, 1804, 216 years ago. With the help of the
brilliance of Lin-Manuel Miranda, he is back in the forefront of American
minds. With the release of Hamilton (2015) on Disney+, the story of this
founding father is reaching a wider audience than ever before. While I was in
school, I knew his name and his basic contributions as a founding father. I
first learned of the famous duel, and this might be true for many people, in
the 1993 Got Milk? commercial. However, it would not be until I was in college
when I took a US History course that I was exposed to more detail about this
man. I remember my professor being a great admirer of Hamilton and used him as
an example of someone who pulled himself up from nothing and made his mark on
history.
Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 or 1757 in
Nevis, British West Indies. He would come to New York, orphaned, with no money
to his name, at a time when change was brewing. He would become General George
Washington’s right-hand man and eventually lead his own battalion at the Battle
of Yorktown to help end the war. By the end of his life, he would accomplish so
much. He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the US Constitution as
well as the first Secretary of the Treasury. He was the founder of the US
financial system. He was the founder of the Federalist Party. He was the
founder of the US Coast Guard and founder of the New York Evening Post
newspaper. He was a prolific writer, writing 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers. He
is generally regarded as an astute and intellectually brilliant politician and
financier. He was also known to be impulsive which led to the end of his
political career as well as personal issues. He was an abolitionist as he had
written “Who talks most about freedom and equality? Is it not those who hold
the bill of rights in one hand and a whip for affrighted slaves in the other?”
However, his close friendships and other relationships, including his
father-in-law, Philip Schuyler, indicated “he somewhat partook in the system
himself” (Vincenty, 2020).
In today’s social climate, many are looking back at our
founding fathers in a new light. Many have called for their statutes to be
removed. We, as Americans, have been taught to revere and hold the founding
fathers and even our leaders, to hero/icon statues, that we often ignore or
push aside their mistakes and faults. Because they were human too. As Shannon
Lallier, co-author of Jefferson’s Children: The Story of One American Family,
said “He [Thomas Jefferson] was a brilliant man who preached equality, but he
didn’t practice it. He owned people” (Halliday, 2020). We need celebrate these
men and women’s accomplishments as well as acknowledge and learn from their
mistakes and faults. Hamilton’s 5th great-grandson, Douglas Hamilton
agrees, “None of us are perfect. None of them were perfect” (Somerville, 2020).
As Aaron Burr sings in Hamilton, “Life doesn't discriminate/Between the
sinners and the saints/It takes and it takes and it takes/And we keep living
anyway/We rise and we fall and we break/And we make our mistakes,” we need to
examine the whole person in the situations in which they faced. They didn’t
have the benefit of hindsight like we do. We can look back on their successes
and their mistakes. To learn from their example. To be better. “I think we do
need to keep the past. You need to understand it. You do need to learn from it.
But, at the same time, you need to look forward and say, ‘How can we get
better?” (Sommerville, 2020).
In conclusion, on this anniversary of the famous duel and
his death, we look back on Alexander Hamilton. He was a man of flaws and
amazing intellect. He wasn’t saintly, he made mistakes, but he left a legacy
that we cannot ignore. Hamilton is a brilliant show about one man and
the creation of our country. American is the land of opportunity and Alexander
Hamilton is one of many examples of men and women rising from nothing to make a
better life for him or herself as well as make a huge impact on America. There
are many examples that follow him who came to this country with nothing and
become something. We have the benefit to learn from history. To learn about the
men and women, good and bad, to follow their path and avoid their mistakes. We
cannot undo their mistakes, but we can learn from them. Erasing the statutes
for the individuals’ mistakes doesn’t erase their successes and impact on our
country. I highly recommend watching Hamilton, the brilliance of the
music, the talents of the cast are worth the time spent.
