Judas
Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them. They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him.
Mark 14:10-11
Mark 14 [6.] But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying. Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her.”
Mark 14 [10.] Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them. They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him. On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”
Mark 14 [13.] He sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go into the city, and there you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and wherever he enters in, tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ He will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Get ready for us there.”
Meaning:
Immediately after the woman’s costly gift at Bethany, Mark turns to Judas. The contrast could not be sharper. She gave away a treasure to honour Jesus; Judas went out to sell Jesus for money. The chief priests had been looking for a way to seize Jesus quietly (Mark 14:1-2), and now one of his own disciples offered them exactly what they needed.
- “Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve”
Judas had been chosen by Jesus, like the other apostles. Mark’s list of the twelve ends with “Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him” (Mark 3:19). He had heard Jesus’ teaching, seen his miracles and been sent out to preach. The name Iscariot probably means “man of Kerioth”, a town in Judea, which would make him the only one of the twelve not from Galilee.
Mark repeats the phrase “one of the twelve” to underline the horror of what happened. The betrayer was not an outsider but a trusted friend. The psalmist had known the same pain: “Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9).
- “Went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them”
Scripture does not give a single motive. John tells us that Judas kept the disciples’ money box and stole from it (John 12:6); his greed was already at work. He may also have been disappointed that Jesus spoke of death and burial rather than of victory over Rome. Mark places his decision right after Jesus accepted the “waste” of the ointment, as if that moment hardened his heart. Whatever the reasons, it was his own choice.
- “They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money”
The leaders were delighted. Their problem was how to arrest Jesus without a riot, and an insider could lead them to him at a quiet time and place. Mark only says they promised money. Matthew records the sum, thirty pieces of silver, which Judas later threw back in remorse (Matthew 27:3).
That price recalls the prophet Zechariah, who played the part of a shepherd rejected by the people. They weighed out his wages, “thirty pieces of silver”, and God told him with bitter irony to throw it to the potter, “the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” (Zechariah 11:12-13). The Son of God was valued at the price of a rejected shepherd.
- “He sought how he might conveniently deliver him”
From then on Judas watched for the right moment, a time when Jesus would be away from the crowds. He found it on the night of the Passover meal, at Gethsemane (Mark 14:43-46). Peter later spoke of Judas as the one “who was guide to those who took Jesus” (Acts 1:16-18).
The Significance of Mark 14:10-11
- The danger of the love of money
Paul warns, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Judas shows how far that root can grow when it is not pulled out. Small dishonesty with the money box became the betrayal of the Son of God.
- Closeness is not the same as faithfulness
Judas walked with Jesus for years and still betrayed him. Being near spiritual things is not enough; the heart must be given to Christ. “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9), and each person needs God to search and change it.
- God’s purpose stands
Judas’ treachery did not take God by surprise. It fulfilled the Scriptures and became part of the way Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many.
Cross-References:
Psalm 41:9: "Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me." Betrayal by a close friend.
Zechariah 11:12: "So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver." The price of the rejected shepherd.
Matthew 27:3: "Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders," The end of Judas’ bargain.
1 Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." The root of Judas’ sin.
Conclusion: Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests and offered to hand Jesus over to them. They were glad and promised him money, and from then on he looked for a convenient moment to betray his master. His story is a solemn warning about greed and a divided heart, and a reminder that even the betrayal of a friend could not overturn God’s plan to save.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible