Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate
Villains or Chosen One’s
Stes de Necker
Judas Iscariot
John. 13: 18: ‘I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.’ And further in verse 21: ‘When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.’
The rest of what happened afterwards is quoted in the four gospels as follows:
1. John
In John. 13 from verse 23 we read: ‘Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
25 He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.’
2. Matthew
Matt. 26 from verse 20: ‘20Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
21 And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
22 And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
23 And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.’
3. Mark
Mark 14 from verse 18: 18And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.
21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
And further in verse 45: ‘And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.’
3. Luke
22 And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!
23 And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.
"And further in verse 48: 48 ‘But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?’
In the 5th century AD Augustine writes: "The true image of the Hebrew is Judas Iscariot, who sells the Lord for silver. The Jew can never understand the Scriptures and forever will bear the guilt for the death of Jesus. "
Judas you villain! ... Or was he?
What does the Old Testament teach us about the fact that Jesus would be betrayed?
Zechariah 11 we read that after the Lord told Zechariah that he must be a shepherd to the flock:
9Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Read again what is written in Matt. 27 from verse 3!
‘Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.
8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.’
It was already God's will that Judas was the one who would betray Jesus, long before the idea of doing such repugnant deed has even entered his mind.
The Judas Gospel
In my article, “JUDAS ISCARIOT REBORN - Discovery of the Judas Gospel” I have elaborated on the history and significance of this discovery.
According to this ancient manuscript, which is now known as the (apocryphal) "Gospel of Judas", Judas was the disciple whom Jesus understood better than any of the others.
After Jesus' resurrection, according to the Gospel of Luke, He appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus. Emmaus was a village situated approximately 12 kilometers from Jerusalem.
In Luke. 27 we read: 13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
And in verse 27 we read: ‘And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
The Bible does not tell us who these two disciples were, ( we only know that one of them was called Cleopas) but we can assume that Jesus also explained His betrayal to these disciples.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus warned Judas: "... but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed."
After the betrayal, Judas was in bitter anguish and remorse and bitterly regretted what Jesus had to endure. To the priesthood and elders Judas confessed that he made a grave mistake. He confessed his sin and went out and hanged himself.
If Judas confessed to the elders and the priests, how much more he would not confessed to God?
Centuries before Judas existed, his fate was already sealed and decided; God had predestined that one day Judas would betray our Lord Jesus Christ!
Jesus did not warned Judas against the wrath of God; He warned Jesus against what he will have to endure after he betrays Jesus, while he was still on this earth.
It appears that the villain Judas may actually have been Jesus' most faithful disciple.
Always temper your judgment with tolerance and understanding.
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea, in the Roman Empire, under Emperor Tiberius, in the first century AD. According to the historians Pilate was a Knight of the Samniete clan of Pontii, and hence his name Pontius.
In the New Testament, Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a weakling with a wavering personality.
Matt. 27: 17 we read that Pilate asked the crowd: 17 ‘Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?’
It seems he could not make up his own mind what to do with Jesus!
According to Matt. 27: 18, Pilate knew Jesus out of envy the chief priests have delivered, and then in verse 19 we read that Pilate's wife (Procula) had send him a message: 19 .....When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
After he heard his wife, Pontius Pilate capitulated his position as a judge, and in verse 24 we read: 24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
What an avoidance of a judge's responsibility!
Imagine that in our day, a person is charged with murder and the judge finds the person innocent. Instead of acquitting the accused and release him/her, he still continue to hand the accused over to ‘the people’ so they can what they want!
This is jungle justice if you've ever heard of it!
As I mentioned earlier, Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea in the Roman Empire from about 26 to 36 AD
The duties of a Governors of the Roman Empire was primarily to collect taxes and to enforcement and implement the laws and regulations of the Emperor. For this purpose, the Governor was also in command of a certain contingent the Roman army in his area. A Governor performed the duties as judge and was given a wide range of powers and other duties to perform in his region.
Philo (Greek philosopher 20 BC to 50 AD - also known as "Philo of Alexandria") writes about Pontius Pilate as follows: “He was a vindictive man with an angry disposition was. He was by nature inflexible in his beliefs; a mixture of self-righteousness and ruthlessness."
Having owned himself the distinction of “a ruthless autocrat who tolerated no contradiction”, one can hardly imagine that this person is the same person the Bible tells us.
As governor, Pilate would not have tolerated Jesus’ ‘insubordination’ as a servant of the Roman Empire and would have been convicted to death without hesitation.
Pontius Pilate instead ‘washed his hands in innocence’, and went ahead and even had an inscription made on the top of Jesus’ cross which read: "This is the King of the Jews."
The Bible does not tell us what eventually happened to Pontius Pilate, but in the apocryphal "Passion of Saints Peter and Paul" (The Passion of Peter and Paul) we read that Pontius Pilate was executed by the Emperor Tiberius, which ordered that his body had to be thrown in a lake in the mountains of Sibbillini. This lake is still known as the "Lake of Pilate"
In the apocryphal book "The Gospel of Nicodemus," Nicodemus describes the dream of Pilate's wife in more detail.
The name "Procula" is derived from the Latin translation of the manuscript
In a letter allegedly by Claudia (as Procula became known later) and written after the death of Pontius Pilate, she wrote that she asked Jesus to heal her son, and that Jeusus granted her, her request.
The letter was published in the Pictorial Review Magazine in April 1929.
The question is
Will a God of justice, predestine people like Judas and Pilate to do His will on earth, and then leave such people to fall into eternal damnation?
In Romans we read: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
Always temper your judgment with tolerance and understanding
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