ACC ~ Matthew 27 v3 - 5

I HAVE SINNED IN BETRAYING INNOCENT BLOOD

CHRYSOSTOM: This was a charge both against him and against these others. Against Judas, not because he repented but because he did so late and slowly and became self-condemned. For that he gave himself up, he himself confessed. And it was a charge against the others, in that having the power to reverse the verdict, they did not repent. But observe when it is that Judas feels remorse. When his sin was completed and had been fully accomplished. The devil is like this. He does not permit those that are inattentive to see the evil in due time, lest they might repent. At least when Jesus was saying so many things, Judas was not influenced. But when his offense was completed, then repentance came upon him. And then it was too late to be profitable. For to condemn it and to throw down the pieces of silver and not to regard the Jewish people were all acceptable things. But to hang himself, this again was unpardonable and a work of an evil spirit. For the devil led him out of his repentance too soon, so that he should reap no fruit from it, and carried him off by a most disgraceful death, and one manifest to all, having persuaded him to destroy himself. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 85.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:759; NPNF 1 10:507

HE BROUGHT BACK THE SILVER

JEROME: The weight of Judas’s impiety overshadowed the magnitude of his avarice. Seeing the Lord condemned to death, he brought the money to the priests as if it were in his power to change the sentence of Christ’s persecutors. Although he would change his mind eventually, he could not change the consequence of his first decision. Yet if he sins who betrays innocent blood, how much more do they sin who purchase innocent blood and provoke a disciple by offering a reward for his apostasy. Those who deny the apostle’s free will and attempt instead to explain Judas’s betrayal by attributing to him an evil nature will need also to explain how a person of evil nature can repent. [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.27.4. [2]

[1] On the various human natures identified by Gnostics and Manichaeans, see Matthew 1-13 (ACCS), p. 155 n. 18. To the affirmation that Judas was evil by nature, Jerome objects that he would not thus have repented.

[2] CCL 77:263.

HE REPENTED

ORIGEN: Let us see whether or not, by the grace of God, we can explain the meaning of the following verse, which still remains hidden to many: “When Judas his betrayer saw him condemned, he repented and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests” and so on. [1]

If this were written after Jesus had been sentenced by Pilate, scourged and delivered to the Jews for crucifixion, [2] we would not need to inquire any further into the meaning of the report that “Judas … saw him condemned” because we know that Judas was a party to those events.

But how is it that Judas saw Jesus condemned before Jesus had either been sentenced or interrogated by Pilate? Some perhaps will answer that Judas was anticipating in his mind the final result of Jesus having been handed over by the chief priests and elders of the people, which he did witness. Others, however, will say that one whom Judas “saw condemned” was not Jesus but Judas himself. According to this account, when the chief priests and elders of the people handed Jesus over to Pilate, Judas then realized the evil he had done and understood that such an audacious act was already under the judgment and condemnation of God. Perhaps also Satan, who had entered Judas after the dipping of the morsel of bread, remained present in him until Jesus was delivered to Pilate but “departed from him” [3] after he finished accomplishing Satan’s will. Judas then sensed the devil’s departure and at once saw and understood that “betraying righteous blood” is condemned by God, which he was able to understand only after the devil had ceased working in him. Only then, free from Satan’s influence, was Judas capable of penitence by returning the thirty pieces of silver to those who had paid him. When the devil had left him, he could then say what he had not been able to say earlier, for when his heart was still full of Satan he was unable to confess, “I have sinned in betraying righteous blood.” We are not saying, however, that the devil ceases to prey upon anyone whom he may have left. Rather, he waits and watches for an opportune moment to apply himself again. Even after his victim has sinned and come to recognize the devil’s influence, he still waits and watches for yet a third opportunity to deceive. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 117. [4]

[1] Matthew says that Judas repents upon seeing Jesus condemned, but when he repents Jesus has not yet been condemned. The second of the two explanations adopted by Origen to resolve the apparent anomaly is based on the fact that grammatically the subject of “was condemned” can be either Jesus or Judas. Origen forces the interpretation of the passage into this second sense.

[2] Mt 27:26.

[3] Lk 4:13.

[4] GCS 38.2:245-47.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN REMAIN

JEROME: It profits nothing to do an act of penance which is incapable of correcting the sin. If a man sins against his brother in such a way that the wrong he committed can be amended, it is possible for him to be forgiven. If the consequences of his sin remain in force, however, in vain does he attempt to do penance. The psalmist applies this truth to our most miserable Judas when he says, “Let his prayer be counted as sin.” [1] Not only was Judas unable to repair the damage of his sinful betrayal, but he even continued to compound the evil of that initial crime by committing suicide. Of such things the apostle speaks in his second epistle to the Corinthians: “Let not a brother be overwhelmed by greater sorrow.” [2] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.27.5. [3]

[1] Ps 109:7 (108:7 LXX).

[2] 2 Cor 2:7.

[3] CCL 77:263-64.

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