Too Late
With that thought filling his mind, he took the bag of money and tried to give it back. But the chief priests laughed at him. They had no more use for him or his money. They had what they wanted.

In desperation, Judas cried out, “I have sinned for I have betrayed innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4). Every word was true. He had done it; what he had done was the worst sin imaginable; he had betrayed the Lord Jesus who, though he was innocent, was about to pay with his blood for Judas’ crime.

With that, he threw the money back into the temple, the coins clinking and ringing as they hit the stone pavement. As Judas turned to go, the 30 pieces of silver stayed behind. Judas not only lost his Lord, he also lost his money. Very shortly he would lose his life.

About his suicide, very little needs to be said. The Bible tells us that “he went away and hanged himself.” It is the final act of a man who could not live with himself and the memory of what he had done. In the ultimate irony on this tragic day, Judas died before Jesus did.
 
The Way It Was
But it was not always that way. If we go to the beginning, we find a remarkable series of facts about Judas:

• He was personally chosen to be an apostle by Jesus Christ.
• He forsook all to follow the Lord.
• He spent 3 1/2 years traveling the length and breadth of Israel with Christ.
• He saw all the miracles of Christ in person.
• He heard Christ give all his famous discourses.
• He watched as Christ healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demons.
• He, along with the other apostles, was sent out to preach the gospel.
• He was one of the leaders of the apostolic band.
• No one ever suspected him of treason.

In terms of experience, whatever you can say about James, Peter and John, you can say also about Judas. Everywhere they went, he also went. He was right there, always by the side of Jesus. He heard it all, saw it all, experienced it all. However you explain his defection, you cannot say he was less experienced than the other apostles.

If anything, he was one of the leaders. After all, the other apostles chose him to handle the money. You don’t pick a man whose loyalty you suspect to handle your money. That’s crazy. You pick your best man, your most trustworthy man, the one man you know you can count on. That’s why they picked Judas.

The most interesting part of this story is that the other apostles apparently saw only the positive side of Judas. It wasn’t until they looked back after the fact that they could see the negatives. Before his betrayal of Jesus, he looked as good as any of the rest, and in fact he probably looked better than most. In that light, let us note it for the record one more time: No one suspected Judas. No one.