November 1

 

The money given to Judas to betray Jesus was used to buy the potter’s field, a graveyard to bury the poor and unknown. Every person that rejects Jesus is poor and unknown and is as guilty as Judas; they will go to the grave in sorrow for rejecting the son of the Almighty. Their sins are exposed, and God cannot look at them; he is too pure to gaze upon their wretchedness. Don’t get too smug; our sins are too disgusting for God to look at also, but Jesus covered them with his blood, which cleanses us of all unrighteousness. What is the difference between Judas and us? We’ve accepted God’s mercy and forgiveness and do not wallow in the sorrow of our sin. Judas was so distraught that he couldn’t live with what he had done and hung himself. If he had sought forgiveness from Jesus and accepted it, we might see him in Heaven, but he wallowed in self-pity before ending his life, never accepting God’s mercy, or believing in Jesus’s forgiveness. He concluded that his sin was more significant than could be forgiven and threw himself at the mercy of the devil rather than face God. Do we know where Judas is? We can only guess; that’s information that only God knows. Don’t worry; you know where you will spend eternity because you have given your life over to Jesus, have turned away from sin, you don’t wallow in self-pity, and have accepted God’s forgiveness.

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. Matthew 27:3-5