God’s Word for You
Luke 22:5-6 they agreed to give him money
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, March 14, 2019
5 Happily they agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.
If Judas’ plan was to betray Jesus over and over again, then the plan’s flaw was that Jesus was going to use this very moment to let himself be captured and crucified. As Judas was drawn more deeply into the plot of the Sanhedrin, he was unable to stand by anonymously and count his money. They would require him to give them some kind of sign as to which man was really Jesus. This meant that none of the leaders of the Jews who had actually spoken with Jesus or met him would be present. They were going to send out guards in order to keep their own involvement secret.
Luke doesn’t mention the amount Judas was paid, but it was 30 shekels of silver. Zechariah had prophesied: “The LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter” (Zechariah 11:13). Matthew affirms: “They counted out for him thirty silver coins” (Matthew 26:15).
Judas’ desire to find a time “when no crowd was present” found the ideal moment during the evening when the families would all be at home or in their hotels and hostels eating the Passover meal. God’s plan was the offer up his Son as the Passover sacrifice, and so even Judas’ choice the ideal moment fit the plan of the Almighty. The devil may think he is in charge, or that he is controlling and manipulating events of world history for his own advantage, to thwart God’s plans, but the Lord always wins. He works despite our sins and sometimes even through our sins to bring about what must be done so that all those who have been destined for everlasting life will enter into God’s family and be saved. In Judas’ case, God reached out personally, as the Lord Jesus himself, to invite Judas to faith and forgiveness. The loss of Judas isn’t Jesus’ fault. What is to Jesus’ eternal glory is that he has chosen you to be his own, he has given you faith and strengthened your faith through the preaching of the word and the reception of the Lord’s Supper. If you count your blessings, don’t forget to start right there with those.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.