What Led Judas Iscariot to Betray Jesus? 

Judas Iscariot was a tragic figure. As an apostle, he was assigned to be the keeper of the purse and, in this task, he excelled. He was always faithful to his apostolic duties insofar as money and finances were concerned. But in his personality, he had flaws that kept him from engaging in the spirit of comradeship with Jesus and his fellow apostles. He could have overcome these flaws but he never made the effort to grow in spiritual progress, which would have been to his benefit.

His main issue was that he found it difficult to confide in Jesus or his brother apostles. He had a suspicious nature that he nurtured, rather than trying to subdue it. He was extremely individualistic: he thought very highly of himself and resisted correction. When he did ask for advice, it was generally to those who were indifferent or shared his resistance to spiritual growth.

Judas was a poor loser and he was not socially-minded. He was overly ambitious for material reward and tended to blame others but never himself. He had a vengeful attitude and liked to “get even” with those he imagined had wronged him. He did not care to share his problems with others – even Jesus – who loved him. And all of these tendencies built on themselves in his inner life until he was destroyed by lonely despair.

When considered together, these factors explain why Judas, who started out with good intentions, eventually sowed the seeds of his own destruction. This was in spite of the fact that he was one of the intimate associates of Jesus for several years and had ample opportunity to follow a different path.

When Jesus made his final farewell address to his apostles, Judas had already defected. He was preparing to betray Jesus at Gethsemane that very night. In his address to the apostles, Jesus called Judas “the son of revenge.” And later, in his last resurrection appearance, Jesus said the following about his difficulties with trust and personal isolation:

“Judas is no more with you because his love grew cold, and because he refused to trust you, his loyal brethren. Have you not read in the Scripture where it is written: It is not good for man to be alone. No man lives to himself'? And also where it says: He who would have friends must show himself friendly.'”

These psychological weaknesses of Judas were not, in and of themselves, a cause of the disaster that followed. Had he chosen to grow spiritually, these tendencies could have been mitigated. Had he chosen to confide and cultivate true friendship with Jesus or at least one or two of his fellow apostles, he could have pulled out of the downward spiral that he was in. They all loved him; Jesus loved him and tried to the end to help him. Instead, he made matters even worse by nurturing grudges, engaging in revenge, and ultimately blaming these same associates for his failures in life.

Judas was not alone in his tendencies towards isolation and a suspicious nature. The Apostles Thomas, Andrew, and Matthew were similarly mannered; and even Nathaniel, who was the friend who nominated Judas for the apostolic party, had these tendencies. But what set them apart from Judas, and what ensured that they did not suffer the same kind of mental problems as Judas, is that they chose to love Jesus and their fellow apostles more and not less as time passed. They grew spiritually by their own efforts and learned how to confide in their brethren. They grew in love, faith, and trust. Judas was never able to (or chose not to) do that. When he would become overwhelmed with his own emotional issues, he would turn to his unspiritual relatives or random acquaintances who were often hostile to the cause of building a spiritual kingdom of heaven. He was supposed to be an ambassador of that kingdom but seemed far from taking an active part in its establishment in his own heart.

Judas was ultimately defeated by the struggles of life. He was unable or unwilling to create a workable art of living for himself as the result of numerous factors:

Judas was socially isolated. He was very independent and shut himself off emotionally from others.

As a child, he was indulged and life was made too easy for him. As an adult, he always expected to win, and he was a poor loser.

Judas could not deal with disappointment in a healthy way; instead of accepting the fact of occasional disappointment, he resorted to blaming others for his personal problems and failures. He often cast blame on Jesus, or sometimes the whole group for his disappointments.

Judas had a habit of holding a grudge, and he often had thoughts of revenge.

He seemed not to be able to face facts honestly; he was intellectually dishonest with himself.

Judas didn’t like discussing personal problems; he just refused to open up to any real friend or his fellow apostles who truly loved him. Judas never once went to Jesus with a purely personal problem.

Judas lived for the short term; he wanted rewards now. He failed to grasp that the best things in life are found in spiritual growth, and that these prizes sometimes require a lifetime to achieve.

Because of these character flaws, he lived his life with increasing grief, resentment, sorrow, shame, anxiety, and despair that proved to be his ultimate undoing.

Judas had numerous mental and emotional challenges that might have been lessened through spiritual growth. His main issue was that he kept himself isolated and self-contained; he refused to confide his inner life or inner problems with anyone, even to those who loved him and meant him well.

In his self-imposed distance from his fellows, Judas was able to harbor and nurture a suspicious mind, and he was ill-tempered and vengeful. His emotional life was void of real feelings of love; he was unforgiving of others. He was isolated socially and almost completely independent of others. In spirit, he was self-absorbed, thinking mainly of his own ambitions; and he was pushy in trying to get his own way. Judas simply ignored those who could have given him the most help, finding fault even with Jesus, who loved him the most; and at the end of his life, he had no friends, having betrayed them all.

Judas started out as an ambassador of the kingdom of heaven. He was well-meaning at first and even was sincere in his belief in Jesus and his mission. He was proficient in his duties as the keeper of finances for the apostolic mission, but he utterly failed to pursue the true meaning of that mission. The impacts of the defects in his character could have been avoided or mitigated by taking advantage of his years of association with Jesus’ transforming personality. However, instead of growing in grace, he regressed into the evil ways that prompted him to completely forsake Jesus and his mission. He abandoned the call of the Master and, in the end, shamefully betrayed him for a handful of silver. The realization of what he had done came too late to save him; in his deep shame and despair, he ended his life by his own hand.