Judas is one of the more unfortunate characters in the last chapters of the gospel of Matthew. Some of the other people who appear in the story, like the priests, are easier to understand. They are simply angry, and nothing more.

But Judas is a mystery. He sells out his own teacher, but then runs back to try to undo his mistake. Maybe he was confused about the deal he had struck with the priests. Maybe he thought they would simply imprison Jesus, or maybe he thought Jesus would escape. Who knows. 

One thing is clear. Judas made a very stupid choice.

When he tried to return the money, he told the priests that Jesus was innocent. But the decision could not be undone. The priests were in no mood to change their minds.

“That’s your problem,” they tell Judas.

And so he is left with a terrible choice. He can’t live with the guilt, and he doesn’t know where to go to find forgiveness.

I don’t think that death was his only option. Sin is terrible, but that is why Jesus came. Jesus even asked God to forgive the soldiers who had crucified him, because they didn’t understand what they were doing.

Judas didn’t understand, either. Why couldn’t he come to God and find freedom from his guilt?

Other people were no better than Judas. Among the disciples, Peter was a wimp. And as the church was beginning, Paul killed Christians. But they each had a ministry for Jesus, after they dealt with their sins.

Judas faced a similar problem, but he didn’t know where to go. Or if he knew, perhaps he was too proud to ask. Either way, without a savior, he had no way to find forgiveness.

The tragedy of Judas leaves a handful of coins scattered on the floor at the feet of the priests. And for a moment, they are uncertain what to do with the money.

They can’t put it in the temple treasury. Apparently there is a law that money paid for contract murder cannot be placed in the offering plate. As they discuss this problem, their comment sounds rather self-incriminating. They are the ones who have paid the money for this awful purpose.

Apparently they don’t mind murdering someone, but they draw the line at letting tainted money go into the offering. Very noble.

They do find a charitable use for the cash. They buy a field that will be used as a cemetery for people who are not Jewish enough to be buried in the more respectable tombs.

The reference to Jeremiah is interesting. It is actually Zechariah who throws thirty pieces of silver into the temple to mark the end of God’s favor on Israel. The silver is the valuation of Zechariah’s services, and the money is thrown to the potter in the temple.

The book of Jeremiah tells of the purchase of a field at about the time the people of Judah are dragged off into exile. The deed for the field is sealed, and the message of that purchase is that God will bring the people back to that land, after the exile is over.

There may have been a tradition that mixed these two texts in Matthew’s day. Either one has something to say about Jesus and the cross, one about the betrayal and the other about the time of judgment and exile on Israel.

There is another image here, one that is not so rooted in the Old Testament. On the surface, we can see the result of the money paid for Jesus’ life. It is a place for the people that society will not claim.

Those that die unwanted will be buried in the cemetery. These are the people that Jesus came to save. The unwanted and the unclaimed can come to Jesus and find rest. The cemetery will receive their bodies, but Jesus will receive their souls.

Meanwhile, Jesus finds himself before the Roman governor, who is the only one who can order him to be killed. Crucifixion is a Roman form of execution, reserved for the most hardened criminals.

The priests want Jesus to die in the most horrible way. But the governor, Pilate, finds no reason to kill this person. He even offers to release a criminal, which was a custom of the day. The crowd is given the choice, and they set the criminal free and send Jesus to the cross.

It is an unthinkable failure of the justice system, but once again, it is a picture of what Jesus will do. Judas has testified about the sinlessness of Jesus, and now Barabbas can testify of his mercy.

The innocent will carry the penalty of the guilty. That is the cross.

Even Pilate is a part of this growing cluster of witnesses in Matthew’s account. He finds no fault in Jesus. Like Judas, he can see no reason for Jesus to die.

And yet the plan continues. Jesus goes through a horrible ordeal. He is ridiculed, humiliated, and beaten before he is killed. The soldiers make fun of his claim to be a king. They bow before him before beating him with a makeshift scepter that they place in his hand. His crown is made from sharp thorns that cut into his skin.

It is a terrible moment. And it says something about sin. It kills. God cannot tolerate sin, and the penalty is death. And yet there is something about his mercy to us that he would so easily push our sins off onto someone else, someone who could more easily bear them.

In the Old Testament, it was the lamb. An innocent animal, it gave its life as a temporary substitute, so that we would not have to give our lives instead.

Now it is Jesus. There is one person who could carry this load and still live. The triumph of this moment is only days away. He will rise from the tomb in three days, and at that moment, the battle will be over.

But before the victory of the empty tomb, there is the indescribable torment of the cross. As Jesus suffers, people laugh at him. And these are the very people he is trying to save.

In the end, even God must turn away. Jesus cries out to his Father, asking why he has been forsaken. But I think he knows. The words are proof that the pain is simply too great to bear.

Jesus will die there on the cross, but there is one more witness who will speak about the power of this man. As Jesus dies, the world shakes, literally. Tombs open, and people are raised from the dead—one more sign of things to come.

The temple curtain is torn from top to bottom, opening up the most holy place in the temple to anyone who would like to simply walk in.

And the soldiers who are standing around the cross all say that this was no ordinary death. No ordinary person. They have witnessed crucifixions, but never anything like this.

He is the son of God, they say. And they are correct. They probably have no background in Old Testament teaching about the Messiah. But they are here at the cross at this moment, and they become witnesses to the plan of God.

But the cross is not complete without the morning of the open tomb. The stage is set. The body of Jesus is placed in a cave, which would be normal practice. But the stone that covers the mouth of the cave is sealed and soldiers are stationed nearby.

That is the plan, as the priests see it.

But God has another plan. On the morning after the Sabbath, which would be Sunday morning, the women go to the tomb to finish what they could not do earlier. They go to prepare the body of Jesus for the tomb.

But he isn’t there. Well, he is, but not the way they expected.

The stone has been rolled away by an earthquake, which was caused by an angel, who still sits there, waiting to tell the news. The women also see Jesus, and he tells them he will meet with the disciples again in Galilee.

Some of the other gospels describe more of the events of the next few weeks. But Matthew skips to the end.

There are two great commissions, or great tasks.

The priests issue their orders. Tell everyone that it never happened. That’s the plan, and people are still following those orders today.

But the command of Jesus is to tell the story, wherever the disciples happen to go. He places his authority upon the disciples and sends them out. They are to make new disciples. In other words, they are to teach people to follow Jesus as they have, baptizing those who believe.

The work will continue until the end of the age, when Jesus returns. Until that time, as long as the work continues, Jesus promises to be with every disciple and every message and every lesson.

That presence of Jesus will happen in a different way than in the gospels. We see it today in the power of the Holy Spirit, who worked in the disciples to begin the ministry of the church a few weeks after the end of the gospel of Matthew.

That promise of the Holy Spirit is no second-rate substitute for Jesus. What happened in the gospels now continues, wherever anyone will place their faith in Jesus and their confidence in the Spirit that lives within them.