Judas Iscariot was an apostle of Jesus Christ whom he turned against by leading an army of religious Israelite leaders known as high priests to the garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus; in exchange Judas was given thirty silver coins. This “ultimate betrayal” led to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, thus fulfilling previous scriptures. Judas is mentioned in all of the four canonical gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Each author of these gospels has his own twist on to who Judas was, his actions, and the way that he died. Judas Iscariot is depicted differently in each of the canonical gospels due to the different audiences each gospel is toward and based on individual perceptions of Judas. The gospel of Mark portrays Judas as money oriented and the one of twelve apostles who betrayed Jesus. (Mark 3:19) Mark was written soon after the Judean War and appealed toward Gentile Jesus followers known as “Pauline Christians” (mainly Greek and Roman) who were under Jewish persecution. Mark tries to help the reader understand who Jesus is by emphasizing that the suffering and death of Jesus …show more content…
Unlike the other gospels, Matthew suggests that Judas was remorseful of his actions and tries to rid of his sins by returning the silver and hanging himself in the Field of Blood (Matthew 27:3-10). Judas’ return of his bounty and death by hanging contradicts the only other account for Judas’ death, written by the author of the gospel of Luke in Acts 1:13-26 and suggests that Judas bought the Field of Blood with his silver and accidentally fell to his death while surveying the land. Judas’ remorse most likely used by Matthew to show the power that sin and betrayal has on men without Jesus there to