ACC ~ John 12 v4
JESUSā TOLERATION OF JUDAS
AUGUSTINE Judas did not become perverted only at the time when he yielded to the bribery of the Jews and betrayed his Lord. For not a few, not paying attention to the Gospel itself, suppose that Judas perished only when he accepted money from the Jews to betray the Lord. It was not at that point that he perished. But he was already a thief, already lost, and he followed our Lord in body but not with his heart. He made up the apostolic number of twelve but had no part in the apostolic blessednessāhe had been made the twelfth in semblance. On his departure and the succession of another, the apostolic reality was completed, and the completeness of the number was preserved. What lesson was our Lord Jesus Christ trying to impress on the church when he decided to have one castaway among the twelve? We are taught the duty of tolerating the wicked and to refrain from dividing the body of Christ. Here you have Judas among the saintsāthat Judas, mind you, who was a thief!āand do not overlook this fact, since he was no ordinary thief, but a thief who also committed sacrilege. He was a robber of money bagsānot just any money bags, but those of the Lord. ā¦ The one who robs the church stands side by side with the castaway Judas. This was the kind of man Judas was, and yet he went in and out with eleven holy disciples. ā¦ Tolerate the wicked, you that are good, that you may receive the reward of the good and not fall into the punishment of the wicked. Follow our Lordās example while he lived with humanity on earth. Why did he have bags to whom the angels ministered, except because his church should afterward have bags? [1] Why did he admit thieves but to show that his church should tolerate thieves even while it suffered from them? It is not surprising that Judas, who was accustomed to steal money from the bags, should betray our Lord for money. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 50.10-11. [2]
[1] See note on Augustine at 13:29.
[2] NPNF 1 7:281-82**; CCL 36:437.
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