JUDAS ISCARIOT: The Most Famous Betrayer

Even though Jesus Iscariot is probably the most famous one among the Twelve Apostles, little is known about him and most importantly, about why he betrayed his Lord Jesus Christ.

Judas Iscariot is also unique in the sense that among the Twelve Apostles, he is the only one who identifies himself with his town. He is supposedly from Kerioth, which is a town located south of Jerusalem in Judea. In addition, his uniqueness also comes from the fact that he is considered to be an outsider in the Twelve Apostles, regarding where he came from. While Jesus and all the other apostles come from the northern part of Israel, Judas Iscariot comes from the southern part of Israel. The motive of Judas for betraying his lord Jesus is kind of an enigma in the sense that there is no consistency in all four canonical gospels. The Gospel of Mark states no motive while the Gospel of Matthew presents that Judas betrayed his Lord Jesus in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. In addition, The Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John refer to the reason for Judas' betrayal due to being possessed by Satan. 

The very famous line of Jesus that goes "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me." is told in the Gospel of John during the last supper, which is depicted by brilliant Leonardo da Vinci, and according to this scene, Judas is possessed by Satan because he eats the bread that his lord Jesus gives it to him. By saying that ''one of you will betray me'', Jesus doesn't try to find the betrayer and punish him, he is merely speaking of the chain of events that have to happen. In the scenario where Judas betrays Jesus in exchange for thirty silver coins, Judas leads the people who came for seizing Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane and gives the prespecified signal to the people by kissing Jesus and calling him ''Rabbi'' which would indicate Jesus' identity. In most of the paintings that depict Jesus and Judas together, Judas is quite close to Jesus and in some paintings, he is kissing Jesus.