<\/p>\n
I had been reading Acts 1 when verse 18 above, which described Judas Iscariot\u2019s tragic death, arrested me. Judas was one of the original twelve apostles. However, this wasn\u2019t how he gained notoriety.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Judas entered the annals of history as a notable villain because he double-crossed Jesus. (His betrayal has been so widely despised, there is a stigma surrounding his name.)<\/p>\n
But there was a twist to this story. After betraying Jesus to the authorities, Judas felt remorseful. He eventually returned the money the religious leaders paid him (Matthew 27:3-11)\u2014and killed himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something about the verse we started with activated my analytical part.<\/p>\n
No wonder Judas \u201cburst open in the middle.\u201d It\u2019s obvious he had a weak core! After all, he betrayed his own Teacher\u2014and Savior of the world to boot.<\/em><\/p>\n As soon as my mind formed\u00a0<\/em>this thought, a question popped into my heart. \u201cHave you forgiven Judas?\u201d<\/p>\n I had been a Christian as long as I could remember and never kept track of how many times I\u2019ve read the Bible cover to cover. I can\u2019t tell you the number of sermons I\u2019ve digested over the course of my lifetime. Yet, I had never heard anyone ask that specific question, nor had I ever entertained it myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I concluded it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the unexpected question.<\/p>\n If God was truly the Source of that silent inquiry, this question deserves to be asked more widely. Have you<\/em> forgiven Judas for betraying Jesus and starting the chain of events that culminated in His crucifixion?<\/p>\n Maybe you have. If so, good for you.\u00a0<\/p>\n But perhaps you believe Judas was destined to be a betrayer, in which case it\u2019s futile to forgive him. But this belief dismisses the importance of free will\u2014a gift God has given everyone, including Judas.<\/p>\n If you and I have the option to obey God or give in to temptation, then the same can be said regarding Judas. He could\u2019ve chosen to resist the temptation to betray Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n He could\u2019ve chosen to stick with Jesus even if the Lord didn\u2019t meet all of his expectations.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s also possible you were like me prior to writing this article. Perhaps you never considered that, just because Judas lived millennia ago, doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re absolved from having to forgive him.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are five reasons why forgiving Judas is a good idea.<\/p>\n The events in the Bible happened a long time ago. This distance can sometimes make it seem as though the characters in it weren\u2019t actual individuals who faced real trials. Some mistakenly consider the Bible as a compilation of fascinating fiction. Imaginary.<\/p>\n By asking yourself if you\u2019ve forgiven Judas\u2014and by forgiving him\u2014you\u2019re training yourself to esteem the Bible, as well as the people and events in it, as real.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hebrews 12:1 leaves us a timely tip for our earthbound journey: \u201cLet us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.\u201d Unforgiveness, anger, and rage dump a hefty load to our lives. If nothing else, leaving these emotions unprocessed exposes us to stress and poor health, which can terminate our lives prematurely.<\/p>\n Since we\u2019re living in the pressure cooker that defines the 21st century, doesn\u2019t it make sense to release every unnecessary encumbrance?\u00a0<\/p>\n Even though there is no specific mention of Jesus forgiving Judas by name, we know the Son of God lived sinless. He walked in continual forgiveness while on earth. Besides, He taught the disciples to forgive as a lifestyle, like when He told Peter to forgive 70 times seven (Matthew 18:22). While enduring the unthinkable agony of being crucified, Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who inflicted His pain (Luke 23:34).\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a stretch to suggest Jesus must have forgiven Judas.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s couple this fact with the admonition for us to imitate God (Ephesians 5:1). Since Jesus Himself has forgiven His betrayer, what\u2019s our excuse for not doing the same?<\/p>\n Have you noticed how quickly people get triggered these days? From cancel culture to road rage to family tension, it seems offense loads the air we breathe. And since it\u2019s hard to forgive, let\u2019s take every opportunity to practice the skill.\u00a0<\/p>\n Forgiving someone who is near and dear to you may be harder compared to forgiving a stranger. Those close to you also possess the great potential to hurt you on a regular basis. Contrast this to strangers who may only offend you once in your lifetime.<\/p>\n If you make a point to forgive a relative stranger\u2014Judas\u2014it will help you forgive your loved ones in general.<\/p>\n \u201cJudas, the one who betrayed him, realized that Jesus was doomed. Overcome with remorse, he gave back the thirty silver coins to the high priests, saying, I\u2019ve sinned. I\u2019ve betrayed an innocent man\u2019\u201d (Matthew 27:3-4, MSG).<\/p>\n Doesn\u2019t Judas’ confession make it sound as though he never forgave himself? This conclusion makes sense, especially given what happened next\u2014his suicide (Matthew 27:5).<\/p>\n Would his fate have been different had he forgiven himself? I wonder. As is often the case, however, forgiving yourself can prove more challenging than forgiving others.\u00a0<\/p>\n I think of women who might regret their abortions. Or mourners who feel culpable in the death of their loved one. If your offspring is an addict or not doing well for any reason, you might blame yourself.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s learn from Judas\u2019 tragic example and forgive ourselves. Regardless of how horrible your situation is, ask the Lord for forgiveness and also the grace to forgive yourself.<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t ever take your own life like Judas did. No matter what.<\/p>\n There are others in the Bible whose offenses also await your forgiveness.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pilate knew Jesus was blameless (Luke 23:4, 14-15, 22) and that it was envy that fueled the Jews to crucify Him (Matthew 24:18). None of these mattered. He still pronounced the death sentence to please the crowd (Luke 23:24).\u00a0<\/p>\n Apostle Peter denied any association with Jesus three solid times (John 18:17, Matthew 26:69, Mark 14:66, Luke 22:56, Luke 22:58).<\/p>\n Prior to his conversion, apostle Paul killed and jailed Christians (Acts 8:1-3, Acts 9:1-2).<\/p>\n As for contemporary candidates for your forgiveness, all you need to do is glance around, and you\u2019ll find plenty of names. Think of career politicians whose face can boil your blood in a jiffy. What about elected officials who enact policies that oppose your values? How about sex traffickers and drug smugglers and ministers who molested innocent girls and other folks you frown at, whatever the reason may be?<\/p>\n In the last days, the love of many will grow cold because lawlessness will abound (Matthew 24:12). One way to fight back is by increasing our forgiveness quotient.\u00a0<\/p>\n The time to forgive is now, no matter the offense. Even if the offender keeps offending. Hasn\u2019t Jesus taught us to forgive 70 times 7 (Matthew 18:21-35)\u2014basically implying, keep on forgiving?<\/p>\n So, let\u2019s practice forgiveness. Let\u2019s forgive everyone who has hurt, offended, or taken advantage of us.\u00a0<\/p>\n Starting with Judas.<\/p>\n Start each day of this Easter season with a daily devotional focused on the events surrounding the persecution, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Check out our daily Easter devotionals\u00a0HERE.<\/strong><\/p>\n Photo Credit: \u00a9Getty Images\/Design Pics<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Dr. Audrey Davidheiser (www.aimforbreakthrough.com) is a licensed psychologist in California, certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, and IFSI-approved clinical consultant. After founding a counseling center for the Los Angeles Dream Center, she now provides IFS therapy for trauma survivors, including those with religious trauma, and assists in IFS trainings. She has been a regular writer for Crosswalk.com and columnist for iBelieve.com. Her book on how IFS helps the grieving process, Grieving Wholeheartedly, was published by InterVarsity Press in July 2025. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Substack @DrAudreyD.<\/p>\n Originally published March 21, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had been reading Acts 1 when verse 18 above, which described Judas Iscariot\u2019s tragic death, arrested me. Judas was one of the original twelve apostles. However, this wasn\u2019t how he gained notoriety.\u00a0 Judas entered the annals of history as a notable villain because he double-crossed Jesus. (His betrayal has been so widely despised, there<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[6757,1277,6641,860],"class_list":{"0":"post-21589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-living","8":"tag-easter","9":"tag-forgive","10":"tag-judas","11":"tag-reasons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Reality of the Bible<\/h2>\n
2. Eliminating Weights<\/h2>\n
3. Jesus Forgave<\/h2>\n
4. Good Practice<\/h2>\n
5. Self-forgiveness<\/h2>\n
Never Obsolete<\/h2>\n