Thirty Pieces of Silver Didn’t Cover the Cost

1 April 2026  Matthew 26:14-25

Wednesday of Holy Week

“They paid him thirty pieces of silver….” (Matthew 26:15)    

The claim that Judas betrayed Jesus for the money has never been entirely convincing to many, mostly because it wasn’t really that much money. Thirty pieces of silver was a month’s pay for an ordinary laborer – not a sum to be sneezed at, to be sure, but as blood money goes, it is pretty economical. And based on what we know about some very famous double-crossers, it doesn’t hold up very well as a motive for handing over the Son of God.

We, all the disciples of Jesus in every time and place, deserve the same punishment, and we have all received mercy instead. Church is where we tell that story over and over again. The alternative is always some version of the Potter’s Field (cf. Matthew 27:3-10), winding up hopeless and alone.

For one thing, most of the famous traitors didn’t do it for the money. Benedict Arnold thought his generalship was unappreciated, and so did his social-climbing wife, Peggy Shippen.

Kim Philby and Julius Rosenberg were committed communists who thought capitalist democracy was cruel and doomed, and that was why they handed over nuclear secrets to the USSR. Richard Hanssen and Aldrich Ames did appear to have entirely financial motives for their treason, but they demanded – and received – a lot more than just a month’s pay, and for a longer time. Judas handed over a much bigger fish than any of the most notorious traitors of history, and he did it for a bargain-basement price. Many historians and theologians have a hard time believing that he did it for a paltry thirty coins. So what was Judas’ motive?

The fact is, we have no idea. If he was disillusioned with Jesus, the far easier solution would have been simply to leave. He had plenty of opportunities, and many others had taken them. The Rich Young Ruler had walked away (cf. Matthew 19:16-26), as had a rather large number of people after they heard what Jesus really meant about the Eucharist (cf. The Bread of Life Discourse, John 6:22-58). The fact that he stuck it out all the way to the Garden of Gethsemane seems to indicate something much bigger was on Judas’ mind, but we are never told what it was.

The fact is, it also doesn’t matter.

Whatever his motivation might have been, would it change anyone’s mind about Judas? Would knowing make anyone say, “Well, I guess what he did was OK, then”?

More controversially, perhaps, was what Judas did really that much worse than what Peter did? Or the rest of the disciples? Peter denied even knowing Jesus. All the rest of them ran away. All twelve were choosing something other than God in the Garden of Gethsemane, and they all did it after God Himself had made His love and friendship clearer than it had ever been to any other humans, with the possible exception of Mary. They all did it after they had sworn over dinner that they would face death rather than abandon Him.

Peter and the rest did only one thing that Judas didn’t do. They recognized their shame together. Judas faced it hopeless and alone, and couldn’t bear it. We, all the disciples of Jesus in every time and place, deserve the same punishment, and we have all received mercy instead. Church is where we tell that story over and over again. The alternative is always some version of the Potter’s Field (cf. Matthew 27:3-10), winding up hopeless and alone.

Church is the ultimate intervention, the place where we know for sure that the shame of all has been redeemed. That kind of intervention could have saved even Judas, whatever his motive was.