Moment of Meditation: Thirty Pieces of Silver (Matthew 26:14-15)

''Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-15).''

Judas sneaks off from the rest of the disciples and arranges to be paid to betray Jesus. How much was Jesus' life worth to Judas? Thirty pieces of silver. If we were to take these pieces at about an ounce each. Roughly twenty dollars an ounce. Judas judged Jesus' worth to be roughly six hundred dollars.

Six hundred dollars for a human life. You can't even get a ticket to the Super Bowl for that little! And how much more should a human life be worth than one ticket to a football game?

Why did Judas betray Jesus? Preachers and commentators have all kinds of reasons. St. John attributes the disciples' disgust at the woman's anointing of Jesus solely to Judas, saying, "This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief" (John 12:4-6).

Betrayal of trust is stealing from the friendship that is supposed to be among each one of us. When trust is betrayed, a piece of each person's soul is stolen by the devil. A theft that is not easily repaired.

Judas' betrayal of Jesus was a shallow move of a wayward disciple, driven by the devil. But God uses Judas' betrayal to send Jesus to the cross so that He might die for your sins. Amen.