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Matthew 27:6-10
The irony in this Bible passage is thick. The chief priest, who are supposed to represent a great faith in God, have given money to someone for conspiracy, then, when the conspirator realized his guilt, returned the money to them as Judas (Matthew 27:5, NKJV) “…threw down the pieces of silver in the temple…” The money, now being recognized by the chief priest as blood money (Matthew 27:6) is no longer worthy to be in the temple from which it came as they themselves have corrupted the money yet seemingly put the blame on Judas. The irony continues as they decide to use the money to buy a field, “the potter’s field” (Matthew 27:8) to bury strangers in while they are defining themselves as strangers to God and the gift that He is offering them in Christ Jesus, whom they have rejected.
This is an example of the spiritual blindness brought on man by the sinful nature.
We must be careful and always on guard to the trickery of the devil that will entice us to believe that we are walking as God would have us, yet be in contradiction to what the Bible teaches us and guides us in our behavior and actions as God’s children. The chief priests would not receive into the temple the same money that they themselves had corrupted. They were blind to their own faults as their self-righteousness outweighed their submission and obedience to God. This is the kind of attitude that Jesus was referring to in Matthew 7:1-5 as He teaches (ESV), “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of our brother’s eye.” The chief priests could not see the log in their own eye. They were spiritually blind and were living and worshiping by their own means, not by God’s instruction.
We too are prone to getting caught up in spiritual blindness. We have descensions within the church with our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus that we should be encouraging and lifting up in support of one another. Judas was wrong in betraying Jesus, but at least he was able to realize the betrayal and bring himself to remorse for what he had done. The chief priests were not even able to recognize the wrong that they had done. God will let you know in your heart when you are veering off the path He has set for you; it is up to you to steer back on to it. We do have an action – a choice in our lives to make for Jesus, but we must be seeking God’s will for our lives before we can follow it.
Dear LORD,
Judas committed a horrible sin, but please help us to realize that all sin is horrible as it all leads to death, but as the Apostle Paul teaches us in Romans 6:23b (HCSB), “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Please grant us spiritual sight so we can see the path that You have for us – that we can see where You would have us to be so that we can steer our broken and insufficient lives back onto the path that leads to forgiveness and eternal life – in Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.