What is Jesus worth to you?
One of the twelve disciples went to the chief priests. His name was Judas Iscariot. He asked, “What will you give me if I hand Jesus over to you?” So they counted out thirty silver coins for him. From then on, Judas watched for the right time to hand Jesus over to them. (Matthew 26: 14-16)
Other parts of the New Testament (such as Matthew 20) use the 'silver piece' as the typical (pre-tax!) wage for a day's labour. So 30 pieces are about 5 weeks money (based on a six-day working week.) In terms of purchasing power, each silver piece was probably worth about $20. The standards of living being much, much lower than in modern (Western) societies. So the thirty pieces are worth about $600. If, on the other hand, you consider 'average wage' (or, more precisely the US Median of $44,389 per household) divided by the 1.3 workers per household - giving a little over $34,000 per year... and 240 working days per year... that gives a pretax daily wage of about $140 per day... so the 30 pieces of silver are roughly equivalent to an 'average American' accepting a payment of about $4,200. (https://www.quora.com/)
A day's pay . . . $600 . . . $4,200 . . . according to how you are financially, this may be a little or a lot of money. But whatever amount, was it worth the price to turn over the Savior? Is it worth the price of one's soul? Can any of us put a price on our salvation? Judas was a zealot, seeking the overthrow of the Roman occupation. No doubt he was disappointed that Jesus was not going to be leading the political overthrow. I guess he was put to get anything he could out of the deal. Oh, for the love of money . . . (1 Timothy 6:10)
What a price he paid . . . not simply rejecting the Savior but accepting the role as the turncoat!
I am sure we have all traded our obedience to Christ for a simple pleasure here and there. While we do not see it as betrayal, that is exactly what it is! Jesus paid the ultimate price for our salvation, yet we often trade it for sin. I am more aware of this fact this week than any other time in my life.
What is Jesus worth to you?
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