Matthew 27

On the surface, this seems like a part of the Bible that doesn't make good logical sense. If Jesus was supposed to be crucified as the ultimate sacrificial lamb, then why is Judas portrayed negatively? In the Old Testament, the high priest was not portrayed negatively when he killed the sacrificial lamb. Nor was the man who brought the lamb or the man who sold the lamb. All of these people were understood to work in concert together so that the sacrifice could occur and the sins of the people could be atoned until the next sacrifice. If Jesus was supposed to be that sacrificial lamb, then why was Judas not appreciated, and why did he end up committing suicide?

We have to remember that none of the disciples understood why Jesus had to die. At least not at this point, they didn't. They wanted Him to stay with them and continue to teach them. Basically, they were selfish. Judas was selfish in that he wanted money and was willing to trade Christ for it. The rest of the disciples were selfish in that they didn't want Christ to leave them and then once He was arrested they were selfish in that they didn't want to be associated with Him. It's a bit ironic I think when you realize that all of the disciples had the same problem, it manifested itself in different ways, and it all served to the glory of God.

If Judas had not been selfish, He would not have betrayed Christ and started events in motion that ultimately led to His death: the atoning sacrifice for all of mankind. If the other disciples had not been selfish then perhaps they would have stood by Christ's side and forced a different outcome at the trials. Perhaps they would have reminded the crowd of Jesus' teachings and miracles and persuaded them to crucify Barrabas. Their selfishness kept them away and allowed events to continue unfolding so that Christ would be sacrificed.

Does this mean that we should be okay with sin in our lives? Or does this mean that it was really a sin for the disciples to be selfish? Or is it even more complicated than that? I don't know. I suspect that it is more complicated than that. Sin is sin, but God is able to use all things to His glory. Judas was wrong in betraying Christ because of His motivation. If he had done it out of the same motivation as the high priest, or the man who offered the lamb, or the man who sold the lamb, His outcome would likely have been different. He didn't work from the standpoint of saving the world, though. He worked from the standpoint of serving himself.

This passage doesn't seem to make sense on the surface and books have emerged that take that apparently illogical turn of events and try to make things different than they were. The fact remains, though, that there is no inconsistency with God, and this is just one more reminder of why everyone (including the disciples) need salvation.