Judas's confession.
The wretched traitor got no satisfaction out of his crime. No sooner had he committed it than he was horrified at the enormity of the deed. Covetous as he was, he could not hold the blood money, and he flung it down as though the very touch of it burnt his fingers. It is not often that the revulsion from an act of wickedness follows so swiftly. Very probably Judas was aghast at the consequence of his treason, never having imagined that it would issue fatally, he may have aimed at forcing the hand of Jesus, assuming that, at the last his Master would exert miraculous powers and claim his Christly rights. If so, the man was grievously mistaken, and the discovery of his deadly error appalled him. Then a great darkness fell upon him, and the madness of suicide took possession of him. He seems to stand alone in the enormity of his crime, but his very despair shows him to be human, and his confession almost gives us a glimmer of hope that even in this miserable man there is a possibility of better things.
I. THE TRAITOR CONFESSED HIS SIN. He knew that he had acted vilely, and his accomplices, who were glad to use him as their tool, had no pity for such a scoundrel But it is something that he was brought to own himself a sinner. The vilest sinner is the man who tries to hide his sin, who plays the hypocrite before men, and who even endeavours to excuse himself in his own conscience by sophistical arguments. There are sins, however, whose scarlet hue so blazes in the sunlight that the rankest hypocrite does not attempt to deny them. Confession is good, but it is not repentance, much less is it regeneration.
II. JUDAS OWNED THE INNOCENCE OF CHRIST. He knew it was innocent blood that he had betrayed. It is striking to notice how many of the leading actors in the murder of Christ testify to his merits. Pilate could find no fault in him. The centurion at the cross acknowledged him as a Son of God. Even the traitor is constrained by his own conscience to own his treason and to vindicate the innocence of his Master. Many men have a fair appearance in the distance, but they will not bear too close a scrutiny. But those who knew Jesus most intimately, and those who examined him in the most critical moments, were able to discover no flaw in his perfect character.
III. CONFESSION OF SIN AND A RECOGNITION OF THE MERITS OF CHRIST ARE NOT SUFFICIENT FOR SALVATION. In Judas there were the beginnings of better things. But alas! they ended in despair and death. If we only see our sin and Christ's goodness, we may well shrink from entertaining any hope for ourselves. We need to go a step further. Judas never fled to Christ's cross; therefore he ran to his own gallows. The only deliverance from the tyranny and the doom of sin is to be found in the redemption which Christ has wrought on the cross. Even the murderers of the innocent Saviour come within the scope of his wonderful grace. There would be hope for a Judas, if Judas would but turn from his awful sin in real repentance to Christ as even his Saviour.—W.F.A.