Thirty pieces of silver. The value of a man's life. One Man in particular. Blood money given to a different man.
Zechariah 11:12,13
Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Matthew 26:14,15
Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 27:9,10
Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet (Jeremiah 32:6-9) was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on Him by the people of Israel,and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord had commanded me."
Judas, who had been chosen by Jesus to be one of "the chosen", the twelve men whom Christ had called by name to follow Him, was not a faithful follower. He had his faults, namely, money. He sold out this Prophet he followed from town to town for thirty pieces of silver, the equivalent of four days labor.
*In Roman terms it would have been the equivalent of four denarii; in Grecian terms it would have equaled four drachmas. It is the shekel referred to from Genesis to Zechariah. It is the penny, the denarius, mentioned in Matthew 20:1-16. It is a day's wages. This is how the Jewish leaders determined the correct price to pay to have Jesus betrayed.
Yet Jesus called him, "Friend" (Matthew 26:50). That must've cut into Judas' heart, but it was too late. He had already betrayed Jesus by a kiss on the cheek. While we know Judas was sorrowful for what he done to his Friend, we can only surmise about whether or not he was repentant. For neither sorrow, nor remorse, nor penitence is repentance.
But we should not be hasty in judging Judas. We, too, have blood on our hands. We, also, have traded the riches of knowing Christ better for the wealth of a bag of holes. Instead of reading our Bibles on a daily basis that we might gain strength and wisdom from them, we squander our days. Instead of kneeling prayer over The Word of God, we might read a passage or two and hope for the best.
Whatever we have set our sights on and our hands to do instead of seeing and doing what we are supposed to be doing is the thirty pieces of silver we have been paid to look the other way, instead of at The Way. We have looked to the left and looked to the right on this narrow path in which we attempt to walk: our eyes have seen and our hearts have wandered. We have become faithless sellouts to our Faithful Leader.
We need to get back to the altar and lay down our pride, humbling ourselves at the foot of His cross. We will repent of all our wickedness and set our face to seek Him out. We will fall prostrate before Him and He will lift us up.
Even if you can't get to church, you can get to the altar. It is a sacred place where a person meets God. In Old Testament times, an altar was built after a person had met (communed) with God. Many altars were constructed to burn a sacrifice on. Though it is not necessary for the Christian to burn a sacrifice, it is necessary to lay the sacrifice God wants from us on the altar.
Where is your altar set up that you meet with God and lay your sacrifice on? Some have set up a small table or chair on which to lay their open Bible and pray there. Some go out into an open area, open Bible in hand, and speak with God there. You'll know your altar when you see it, if you are listening to The Spirit direct you.
Resources:
*1. TruthSaves
