I'll Cast My Lot Upon Mercy!

The older I get, the more my thoughts and perspective change as I read scripture.

I"m not sure the writers were but sometimes blinded by emotion and bias, much like we are today.

In the case of Judas, perhaps a bum rap!

His deal with the religious may have been less about betrayal and the 30 pieces of silver and more a prophetic fulfillment of Christ's destiny?

In his mind likely the thoughts that if and when he might get Jesus in front of the right leaders, this Messiah would "show out" in power, deliver Isreal and become the new King David they had all hoped for. A strategy gone overboard, yet in the end, prophecy was fulfilled, the Lamb was slain, the crucified ressurected.

Sadly, Judas' plan failed in his eyes, sufficient that he took his own life, yet O.T. prophecy was once more fulfilled, even to the use of the 30 pieces and the puchase of the Potter's Field!

The writer of Matthew was likely still struggling with this "misled, fallen" disciple whom I still think found grace in his last moments; whether at the end of a rope or as he lay at the bottom of a cliff with his bowels burst.

You see, I think the duplicity of story as to how he died holds hint of something missed in Judas's last moments, just after he repented of his plan, casting the 30 pieces of silver at the feet of the priests.

I'll cast my lot with mercy, on a God unwilling that any should perish.

"Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over."

Matthew 26:14‭-‬16 NIV