Sometimes you just can’t take it anymore and you take action. Over time the little things have built and you get to a point where you can’t stay silent anymore. You just have to say or do something or you feel like you will explode. Maybe an injustice has gone on too long. Or the little indignities have so affected you that you feel like you are crippled, a shell of what you once were, and certainly not you thought you would become.
All of us can reach the breaking point. And the breaking point is different for each of us. It is based on so many things, but often the break comes when we feel like our core values have been trampled.
When that breaking point comes, it can be difficult to predict the outcome. People make choices in those moments that can be very out of character. Others watching would never have guessed they were capable of such action. The divergence from the norm can be enormous.
And people can act either in very good, positive ways, or in very bad, negative ways. Some people use the energy to make a huge positive impact on the world. They can start foundations and organizations that address the injustice. And sometimes they simply try to take things into their own hands.
Our text tells of Judas Iscariot’s attempt to take things into His own hands. We don’t completely know his reasons. Maybe he wanted to force Jesus’ hand, make Him use force and set up the Messianic Kingdom. Maybe he became disillusioned with this Jesus who was set on dying. His idea of the Messiah didn’t include death, so he must have been wrong about Jesus. Discouraged or frustrated, something wasn’t going the way he had planned. And so he acts.
Judas’ name goes down in history because of the promise he makes to the chief priests and the act he carried out. What a contrast to the woman who sparked this action. She is remembered for her kindness, him for is treachery.
Betraying to death a close friend or family member is about as bad as it gets. Judas couldn’t have dug any deeper to get to his bottom. And when he arrives we find him dead in a field, having taken his own life.
We must be careful with the promises we make. A promise binds us to our words. It ties our character to the outcome of our actions. Even if the outcome isn’t what we wanted, the promise stitches the two together. I think Judas regretted handing Jesus over, but his promise had led him down a path the end of which he didn’t know. And when the path took an unexpected turn, that turn pushed him further to the bottom than he could take.
The Arnold Journey 