Opportunity Cost: The loss of heaven and one’s closest relationships and the rich fellowship they make possible in exchange for the price of a common slave.

 “Everyone has a price,” the professor told our class. “You need to determine yours.”

Those were haunting words. What would it take for me to deny Jesus in favor of something else, anything else? 

Judas tasted and saw how good Jesus was. His price was a month’s pay. He received a stake to begin a new life. He would be lauded for his shrewd bargain. He would be admired by powerful people who knew what it took to climb over others to the next level. He would gather a team, build a business empire, and eat, drink, and be happy.

People would name their sons after him. People would trust him for wealth and connections. People would speak his name with admiration and respect. 

But, too late, he discovered that he had betrayed a truly innocent man. Not only innocent, but righteous. Not only righteous, but sacrificial. Not only sacrificial, but salvific. 

Too late, he realized what he had gained was ultimate loss, ultimate separation, ultimate death. 

Too late, he understood his name would become a proverb, a description for an enemy. Only hell and its denizens would sing his praise. 

How can you undo the most awful thing you have ever done, the most awful thing anyone has ever done? Is there a way out, a way back, a way into that moment when Jesus broke the bread and poured the wine?

No. 

Judas could not redecide his decision. He could not untie the knot. He could not unbetray the one truly innocent man who ever lived. The bloody knife that cut the throat of the Lamb of God was in his hand. 

How could he live with himself? 

He couldn’t. 

He didn’t. 

All he gained was used for his burial. He would be surrounded by other outsiders, those misfits who did not belong where they breathed their last. Their cemetery bore no headstones, no monuments, and only the bitterest of tears. 

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I will count the cost of following Jesus and pay whatever is necessary to stay with him forever.

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Our Father, deliver me from the possibility of betrayal. Remind me how you paid the price to draw me into deepest relationship with yourself. Empower me to tell the good news that no matter how bad a person has been or is, there is cleansing forgiveness and a fresh start with all who come to Jesus in repentance and simple faith. Amen.