Last night at Bible Study we talked about Judas.  Today we use the name Judas to mean "betrayer" or "traitor."  But in Jesus’ time Judas was a common name.  It is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Judah whom you may remember was one of the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel) and from whose lineage we get King David, Solomon, and ultimately Joseph, the step-father of Jesus himself.  In fact, Jesus had a half-brother named Judas (Mark 6:3), better known to us as the epistle-writer Jude.  So what does Judas mean?  It means “worship.” 

Judas, however, forsook his own name and turned away from God, turning instead to money.  John 12:6 gives us some insight into Judas’ character.  It says that “…he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.”  In other words, he valued money more than his relationship with Jesus.  So it was not too much of a leap for him to literally sell out his friend and teacher for thirty pieces of silver.  By focusing on money, Judas turned from “worship” to “betrayer.”

The Bible warns us against idolatry, and pursuit of riches is certainly a form of idolatry.  We need to make a living but Jesus taught us to pray for God to “give us this day our daily bread,” (Matthew 6:11) enough to live on.  We have two eyes yet we can only focus them on one thing at a time.  Try it!  When we focus on money, or wealth, or the coolest shoes or the latest technology toy or the most popular celebrities, we are turning from worship to betrayal of God.  Elijah asked, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21).  Joshua said “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” (Joshua 24:15).  And even Jesus warned us that “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”  Judas, whose name meant “worship,” learned this last lesson the hard way.  May we turn away from money, which the world promises brings happiness, and turn in worship toward God who gives freely of His Grace.