Judas tried to return the money that the chief priests paid him for betraying Jesus. They wouldn’t take it back because they said, it was used for murder. They acted totally innocent, and blamed the money. What are you blaming for your sinful actions?
The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.”Matthew 27:6
I’ve got sixpence, a jolly, jolly sixpence. I’ve got sixpence to last me all my life. These are the words to an old British song we used to sing as kids.
Do we need to ask if this was a clean sixpence or a dirty sixpence? One would think that sixpence is sixpence, but not according to the chief priests.
A Fictitious Story with a Grain of Truth
Let me share a fictitious story with you that has a grain of truth in it. In this story, there were thirty pieces of silver. We are not sure exactly where the money came from.
Some of it may have come from herding pigs, some may have been a cut from a black market deal, or maybe some came from one of those dreaded tax collectors.
This money may have been earned under-the-table or even from the work of a prostitute. No matter where it came from, these thirty pieces of silver ended up in the temple treasury.
Now it was in hands of the chief priests and could be used at their discretion for whatever they wanted to use it for.
On this particular day, the chief priests decided to buy the death of Jesus with money from the temple treasury. So they took the opportunity to pay Judas for his betrayal of our Lord.
Judas fulfilled his end of the bargain because he probably thought that Jesus would rise us against the Romans. After seeing all the miracles He had performed, there was no doubt in his mind that Jesus would be victorious. When Judas realized what he had done, he tried to return the money.
The Root of Sinful Actions
So, these thirty pieces of silver went from a possibly unclean source to the temple treasury where they were made “clean”, to being used for a contract to put someone to death, turning them into dirty money again.
That really sounds absurd, doesn’t it? The Word says that it is the love of money that is evil, not the money itself. That makes the heart and motivation of the person spending the money clean or dirty, not the money itself.
What a lame excuse, blaming money for their sinfulness! We as humans are good at doing that sort of thing. The sinfulness that is in our hearts will hide behind a tool or other item in our lives. What are you blaming for your sinful actions?
I wonder what I blame to try to cover up my unclean or sinful actions? Maybe you should examine yourself as well.
Blaming our sins on someone else or something else won’t work. I wrote a devotion about Achan in the Old Testament you might be interested in reading about. he tried to hide his sin.
Lord, when we stand before you, we won’t be able to blame things for the condition of our hearts. Help us to pray like David prayed, “Change my heart, oh God.”
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Read the whole account of what happened in Matthew 27.
You would enjoy reading the cornerstone post on discipleship called How To Be An Effective Devoted Disciple Of Jesus.
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Blaming the money is an interesting concept I haven’t heard before, but we prefer almost anything to taking personal responsibility for our own actions, don’t we?
Yes we do. The best thing we can do is trust Jesus with our faults since he has already paid a price for them.
So true. That’s why the Lord gave us the tool of His forgiveness. But we have to admit our sin before we can be forgiven. “Lord I know I shouldn’t have eaten that extra piece of chocolate but it was the chocolate’s fault for being so tasty.” I doubt if the Lord would even hear that. Good message.
Thanks for that insightful comment