Judas was one of the 12. Handpicked by Jesus himself. Jesus knew Judas, so much so, that Jesus entrusted Judas to be in charge of the treasury, the collection and disbursement of the funds to the poor. Jesus never did an audit check on Judas, though Jesus knew all along that Judas was dipping in the purse, for himself. Jesus never brought this to light even to his closest two, Peter and John.

Jesus will always cover our shame. Yet, covering our shame and sin is not enough. The sin, shame and stain must be washed, cleansed and forgiven by Jesus himself.

No man can forgive sin, only the Man, Christ Jesus (Matthew 9:6).

Judas made two errors, he repented to himself and to the chief priests, but he didn’t repent to Jesus. Though Judas was not in physical proximity to Jesus, he certainly was in spiritual closeness. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” (Romans 10:10) Judas could not make a physical confession to Jesus, yet he was in reach of Jesus’ heart. He knew Jesus, and Jesus knew him.

There are times we have sinned, and are sinning, and our minds cannot conceive how or why Jesus would forgive us time and again. Jesus can only forgive us, when we confess it to him. Of course, we feel bad when we sin because we don’t want to sin. But if left unchecked and unresolved, the burden begins to take on weight. Cain had said in Genesis 4:13, “my punishment is greater than I can bear.” And it is for this reason that Jesus came. Thank God Jesus came!

The weight was bearing heavy on Judas. As it will with us. Judas was so overcome with grief, that it blinded him to the truth that he could not reach out to Jesus, when all along Jesus was within reach to him, and to us as well. Jesus is always a prayer away, from our lips to his ears. Judas thought he committed the unforgivable sin, thereby taking matters into his own hands.

Had Judas confessed his sin to Jesus, Jesus would have forgiven him, no matter how grievous his sin was. No matter how grievous your sin is. As we sing the song, “Forgiveness was bought with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.”.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank You for both the positive and negative examples in Scripture, especially that by the blood of Jesus we can be free not to follow the negative example of Judas who killed himself. We thank You that Your Word encourages us that a live dog is better than a dead lion. (Ecclesiastes 9:4) Lord God, we confess natural tendencies to take matters into our own hands, even to the point of shedding our own blood, even though we are made in Your image. When we face these temptations, help us to plead the blood of Jesus and bring our burdens and shame to the foot of the cross to be covered by the precious blood of Jesus. And let us remain mindful of Your warning through Judas not to take matters into our own hands by shedding our own blood. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

When we are burdened with guilt, we must not “see to it” ourselves. When we do not take it to Jesus, guilt leads to a kind of sorrow that leads to death, not life. There is room at the cross for you – bring your burden to Jesus today and confess your need. Do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah and Immanuel, God with us? Forgiveness and spiritual restoration are available for you in Jesus’ Name!