How Do You Handle Betrayal?: Daily Thoughts from Mark (Mark 14:10-11)

Perhaps one of the most difficult things to deal with is the betrayal of a friend or loved one.  We trusted them.  We made ourselves vulnerable to them.  And they took advantage of that trust and vulnerability to get something for themselves from our relationship at our expense.

There is no one Jesus has been more vulnerable to than his apostles, Judas Iscariot included.  And Judas is going to betray that trust.

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. (Mark 14:10-11, ESV)

The ESV Study Bible notes are excellent here:

Mark 14:10  The Jewish authorities had issued orders seeking the (inconspicuous) arrest of Jesus (John 11:57). Judas Iscariot could help them because he was one of the Twelve and would be able to tell them where Jesus could be found (fulfilling Ps. 41:9) when there were no crowds present. Judas is to identify Jesus to his opponents by night. Without modern lighting systems, finding and identifying someone at night would be a difficult task.

Mark 14:11  Mark, like Luke (Luke 22:5), is more general in his report and simply says Judas was given money in exchange for betraying Jesus, but Matthew records the exact amount: “thirty pieces of silver” (Matt. 26:15). In the OT, this was the price of a slave accidentally gored to death by an ox (Ex. 21:32), probably equivalent to about four months’ wages.

Was it only greed that motivated Judas?  We don’t know.  He afterward felt tremendous guilt and committed suicide (Matt 27:1-10).  His betrayal was predicted (John 13:18 referring to Psalm 41:9) but this does not remove his guilt or responsibility for his actions.  After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, his apostles replaced Judas to bring the number of apostles back to 12 (Acts 1:15-22).

David, the king, who was therefore a prefigurer of the Messiah, had also experienced in his role as leader of Israel, a betrayal by a close friend (Joab? His son Absalom?  Both, and others?).  And so the Messiah must also experience such a betrayal.  Another prefigurer of Messiah, Joseph, had experienced the treacherous betrayal of his brothers.  Moses was betrayed by his brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam.  This is the lot of Messiah.  And Messiah will handle the betrayal with the same godliness as David, Joseph and Moses.

As Jesus’ followers we, too, will not be exempt from such betrayals.  Jesus predicted that families would turn against each other in persecution (Mark 13:12).  The servant is not greater than the master.