While I was reading through the book of Matthew, I found a lot of things to be very intriguing to me. The highlight of the storyline in Matthew in my opinion was the crucifixion of Jesus. It was a story that I grew up on, and one of the main reasons why I find this book so interesting. Jesus was betrayed by one of his own disciples, and due to the betrayal he was crucified. While reading through this particular section I began to notice a pattern with his traitor who is Judas Iscariot. Judas always referred to Jesus as “Rabbi” and never “Christ”, and that led me to believe he had some reservation to him being the son of Yahweh.  Another funny occurrence that seemed to appear was how Judas was always listed last in the order of disciples. So did Jesus know Judas was going to betray him; or was he unaware of the events that perspired in the coming days?  This is not my question, but my question is: was Judas predisposed to betray Jesus?

 

 



 



 

Looking for this answer was quite difficult because, I wasn’t looking for an exact answer but more so a clue.  The first clue came from a website that led me to believe Judas was in fact by lineage against Jesus. The website stated the following: “Scholars surmise that Judas may have been the only Judean among the twelve disciples of Jesus. This alone could have caused him to feel somewhat superior, as Judeans considered Galileans to be country dwellers or "bumpkins." When Jesus gave him charge of the money box, it may have additionally boosted his ego.

Judas is often identified as a Zealot, an attribute held by only one other disciple, Simon the Zealot. We know that Judas was probably a Zealot by his surname, Iscariot. Researchers believe this is a form of the title sicarii, meaning "dagger-men," a group of ultra-Zealots who carried a knife with them at all times to be prepared to assassinate traitors and capitulators. In English, we could call him Judas the Daggerman.”

It would seem that Judas felt superior to Jesus in a sense, and that superiority led him to betray Jesus. The article that also pointed out that at first he followed the words spoken by Jesus, but once Jesus started to talk about his death and sacrifice Judas seemed to believe Jesus was a false messiah. http://www.thenazareneway.com/holy_week/why_did_judas_betray.htm

 

So did this small fact led to him betraying Jesus.  I tend to believe it does,  but I wanted to find out another thought on the topic.  The second source that I decided to use also stated that Judas did not believe Jesus was the son of Yahweh.  It also pointed out that although he was disciple he had no personal relationship with Jesus. The website pointed out the following:

“Judas not only lacked faith in Christ, but he also had little or no personal relationship with Jesus. When the synoptic gospels list the Twelve, they are always listed in the same general order with slighariations (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16). The general order is believed to indicate the relative closeness of their personal relationship with Jesus. Despite the variations, Peter and the brothers James and John are always listed first, which is consistent with their relationships with Jesus. Judas is always listed last, which may indicate his relative lack of a personal relationship with Christ. Additionally, the only documented dialogue between Jesus and Judas involves Judas being rebuked by Jesus after his greed-motivated remark to Mary (John 12:1-8), Judas’ denial of his betrayal (Matthew 26:25), and the betrayal itself (Luke 22:48). “   http://www.gotquestions.org/Judas-betray-Jesus.html

So could this be why or what caused him to betray Jesus? I tend to believe that it does. Let’s think about this in a real world setting. If I was born into a culture that fed the belief that Galileans were beneath me, and once I was selected to be a follower of someone they rarely spoke to me. Not only was I really spoken to, but I was rebuked the one time I did speak to whomever I might be following.  This two factors could cause someone to feel like betraying someone without hesitation. I believe other factors were at work that involve a form or spirituality, but on a literary level betrayal was causes by lack of attention, and Judas’s background as a Judean.

 

 

A song for Judas the traitor!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagn8Wrmzuc