Judas Had The Bag
by Barbara J. Cicognani
“For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor” (John 13:29).
The way a man handles money, more than any word he utters, reveals the true attitude of his heart, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).
A spiritual man prizes spiritual things more than the riches of earth, for “more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold” (Psalm 19:10). He recognizes that money will never satisfy spiritual needs.
Judas valued earthly things more than the riches of Heaven. When Mary broke open her alabaster box to anoint the Lord, it was accounted a “waste” (Matthew 26:8). Judas claimed to want the income from the ointment for the poor, but “this he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein” (John 12:6). After Jesus rebuked his wrong attitude, Judas contracted with the chief priests to betray the Lord for thirty pieces of silver.
Too late, Judas realized what he had done. Returning to the chief priests, he tried to return the silver, saying, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4). Rebuffed by the priests, Judas “cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (v.5). Thirty pieces of silver could not quiet a guilty conscience, “for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Instead, we should do as Christ taught: “Sell that ye have and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth” (Luke 12:33). BJC
This article was originally published March, 1993. "Judas Had The Bag", Institute for Creation Research, https://www.icr.org/article/judas-had-bag (accessed April 19, 2024).