CHAPTER 169

*Judas is filled with remorse. Hurries to the temple and throws the thirty pieces of silver at the feet of the priests who take it and buy a potter's field*. Judas hangs himself. His body is buried in the potter's field.


* NOW, Judas who betrayed his Lord, was with{? Or present.} the mob; but all the time he thought that Jesus would assert his power and demonstrate the strength of God that he possessed, and strike to earth the fiendish multitudes and free himself;

2 But when he saw his master on the ground and bleeding from a score of wounds, he said,

3 * O God, what have I done? I have betrayed the son of God; the curse of God will rest upon my soul.

4 And then he turned and ran with haste until he reached the temple door; he found the priests, who gave to him the thirty silver pieces to betray the Lord, and said,

5 Take back your bribe; it is the cost price of my soul; I have betrayed the son of God.

6 * The priests replied, That matters not to us.

7 Then Judas threw the silver on the floor, and, bowed with grief, he went away, and on a ledge beyond the city's walls he hanged himself and died.

8 In time the fastenings gave way, his body fell into the Hinnon vale and after many days they found it there a shapeless mass.

9 The rulers could not put the price of blood into the treasury, and so they took the thirty silver pieces with which they bought a potter's field,

10 * Where they might bury those who had no rights to lie within their sacred grounds.

11 And there they put the body of the man who sold his Lord.


* Evidentially, did Jesus tell Judas what He had planned?

AG - Chapter 160 - selected verses.

31 And Judas said, "Lord, is it I?"

32 And Jesus said, "He is the one who now has put his hand with mine into the dish."

They looked, and Judas' hand was with the hand of Jesus in the dish.

33 * And Jesus said, "The Prophets cannot fail; the son of man must be betrayed, but woe to him who shall betray his Lord."

34 And from the table Judas rose at once; his hour had come.

35 * And Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are to do."

And Judas went his way.


Did Judas hear, but not believe; or believe; but not hear?

Or, did Judas know, and loved Jesus enough to do His will?

We may never know. But, we can ask the HS. Students, please report;

that we may poll all concerned who participate in this experiment.

This is for class exercise only; not publication. "Let Him who can hear, hear."

* Judas planned. Jesus planned. Everyone planned. But, did God plan better? I am going to ask a controversial question: Can you put yourself in the mind and consciousness of Christ and forgive? Can you see this as perhaps the greatest tragedy in the history of mankind, yet its ultimate salvation? Christ did. We may, as well.

What the chrysalis sees as a tragedy, the butterfly sees as a miracle. Remember the Zen Koan: "A falling leaf? No, a butterfly."

In death, birth. In Birth, Death. The eternal continuam. We are eternal.


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