Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

We aren’t given the hour, but it would have been after the dinner party when Judas made his way to the palace of the high priest. However late it was, the religious leadership had not solved their problem of how to arrest Jesus. Judas brought their answer. They could avoid the crowds in the temple area by seizing him as he prayed in private.

Only Luke tells us that Satan entered Judas, which sounds like what we think of as demon possession. To whatever degree Judas was under Satan’s influence, this was by his own choice. John uses the same phrase when Judas accepted the bread from Jesus and went out. In reality, the betrayal came on Monday night. On Passover, the betrayal was just executed.