Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Matthew 26:14-16

A few thoughts on Judas Iscariot.  As far as I know, we are not told how Jesus chose him to be one of his twelve disciples. We do know, however, that Judas was the only Judean among the eleven Galilean Disciples.  The rulers of the Jews in Judah obviously saw Judas on their side regarding Jesus.  More than that we do not know.  We do know that the Jews of Judah, in general, looked down on the Jews who lived in Galilee.

Further, Judah tended to me more nationalistic than the Galilean Jews.  The Jews of Jerusalem dreamed of the day when the Messiah would come to establish his kingdom there in the heart of ancient Judaism, Jerusalem.  Their newly constructed temple was to be the center of it all!

Is it going too far to believe that Judas was distressed by the fact that Jesus’ kingdom had little to do with Jerusalem?  Jerusalem did not figure much in Jesus’ Kingdom vision. Jesus did not teach that Jerusalem was to be the center of the kingdom that he kept talking about.

I am aware of the tendency to try to fit Jesus into our nationalistic hopes.  We find it difficult to believe that Jesus came to bring the entire world, with its many cultures, into the Kingdom of God on the earth.  One of the most difficult things to believe is that Jesus came to save all kinds of people, from all cultures and peoples of the earth. Our ethnocentrism blinds us at times.  Was it so with Judas?  I tend to think so.

Jesus sees all people as needing salvation, no matter who they are.