Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 26:14-16

"Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said, What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to deliver him [unto them.]" — Matthew 26:14-16 (ASV)

Glossa Ordinaria: Having described the occasion of his treachery, the Evangelist proceeds to recount the manner of it.¹

St. John Chrysostom: "Then"—that is, when he heard that this Gospel would be preached everywhere. This made him afraid, as it was indeed a mark of unspeakable power.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The order of the narrative is this: The Lord says, "You know that after two days the Passover is coming..."; then the Chief Priests and Scribes assembled; and then one of the twelve went.²

Thus, the narrative of what took place at Bethany is inserted as a digression, describing an earlier event that occurred between the council's decision, "Lest there be an uproar," and the statement, "Then one of the twelve went."

Origen of Alexandria: "He went"—against the one high priest who was made a Priest forever—to many high priests, to sell for a price the one who sought to redeem the whole world.

Rabanus Maurus: He says Judas "went" because he was neither compelled nor invited, but formed this wicked design of his own free will.

St. John Chrysostom: "One of the twelve"—which is to say, from that first band of disciples who were chosen for their preeminent merit.ⁱ

Glossa Ordinaria: The evangelist adds his distinctive name, "Iscariot," because there was another Judas.³

Remigius of Auxerre: He was so-called from the village of Scariotha, from where he came.

St. Leo the Great: He did not forsake Christ out of fear, but cast Him off through a lust for money. For compared to the love of money, all our other affections are weak. The soul thirsty for gain does not fear to die for something very small; there is no trace of righteousness in a heart where covetousness has taken up its home.

The traitor Judas, intoxicated with this poison and thirsty for profit, was so foolishly hardened that he sold his Lord and Master.⁴

St. Jerome: The wretched Judas eagerly sought to replace the loss he believed he had incurred from the ointment by selling his Master. He did not demand a fixed sum, lest his treachery seem like a profitable venture. Instead, as if handing over a worthless slave, he left it to the buyers to determine how much they would give.

Origen of Alexandria: All who accept material or worldly things to cast the Savior and the word of truth out of their thoughts do the same thing. "And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver," as many pieces as the years the Savior had lived in the world.ⁱ

St. Jerome: Joseph was not sold for twenty pieces of gold, as many who follow the Septuagint think, but for twenty pieces of silver, as the Hebrew text has it (Genesis 37:28). For it could not be that the servant should be more valuable than his Master.ⁱ

St. Augustine of Hippo: The fact that the Lord was sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver signifies the unrighteous Jews. Pursuing carnal and temporal things, which relate to the five bodily senses, they refuse to have Christ. Since they did this in the sixth age of the world, their receiving five times six as the price of the Lord is thus signified. Furthermore, because the Lord's words are silver, but they understood even the Law in a carnal way, it is as if they had stamped on silver the image of the worldly dominion they clung to when they renounced the Lord.⁵

Origen of Alexandria: The "opportunity" Judas sought is further explained by Luke: "how he might betray him in the absence of the multitude" (Luke 22:6), when the populace was not with Jesus, but He had withdrawn with His disciples. This is what Judas did, delivering Him up after supper when He had withdrawn to the Garden of Gethsemane.

From that time forward, this has been the kind of opportunity sought by those who would betray the word of God in times of persecution—a time when the multitude of believers is not gathered around the word of truth.

1. non. occ.
2. de Cons. Ev., ii, 78
3. non. occ
4. Serm., 60, 4
5. Quaest Ev., i, 41