Luke 22:3-6 (ESV)
Judas to Betray Jesus
Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
What would we take today in return for betraying Christ? Would we take money? The amount was stated as 30 pieces of silver. That amount of money today is said to be worth between $100 and $3,000. That is a broad amount, but neither end of that spectrum is worth much. It is doubtful that members of today’s church would betray Christ for such amounts. We probably find that we betray Christ for much less! Today the world is prepared to “shame” people who speak the truth of Christ in public, at work, in schools and/or communities. To avoid being shamed, we close our mouths. There is no money changing hands in that incident, but to keep our livelihood, we betray our loyalty to Christ. We, like Peter, will deny Christ (our connection and identity with Christ) in order to keep our popularity. In order to maintain our status we turn our back on Christ. When others profane Christ we stay quiet out of ear of some time of reprisal. We can mock and look down on Judas (and we should) but, to be truthful, we, at times, are less profitable by the world’s standards in regard to our betrayal and/or denial.
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