Judas and the Priests

‎What Jesus foresaw and knew, was the hideous act of treachery which was about to be perpetrated against Him. From the very first He had told His apostles that even among them, the twelve chosen from all men as truest and best, “one of you is a devil.” This one was Judas Iscariot, a man more cautious and careful than all the rest, so much so that he had been selected to carry their common purse, and pay out moneys for them.

‎To Judas, Mary’s measureless extravagance with the ointment of spikenard seemed unpardonable; he cried out that the oil was worth “three hundred pence” and should have been turned into money for the poor. The Gospel of John declares bitterly that he spake “not that he cared for the poor,” but because he was “a thief” and wanted the money himself. At all of the events, a sudden impulse seemed in that moment to overwhelm Judas. Perhaps in very fact, he became temporarily “a devil.” Rising from his seat at the feast, he went forth into the night, sought some of the priesthood of Jerusalem and bargained with them to betray the Master. He arranged to guide some of their people to seize Jesus while the fickle multitude were not near to give Him protection. For the deed Judas was to receive “thirty pieces of silver.”