Judas Iscariot betrayal was quite simple: all he had to do is inform the priests, Sadducees and the Sanhedrin that Jesus had had himself anointed: that was it. This was sufficient, for this indicated that Jesus was declaring himself a Messiah, or a position of either secular or spiritual overlordship of the Judeans. This, of course, put Jesus in opposition to the Romans, as this was sedition, and therefore the charge against Jesus was quite straight-forward: he was declaring himself the king of the Jews, and thus he would be executed like all other insurrectionists: by crucifixion. This is what is recorded in the gospel of Mark.
But who was Judas Iscariot? He was one of the twelve disciples, and we will look at how he is portrayed in each of the gospels. He is only mentioned in two contexts in each gospel: once before the anointing, and then with respect to the actual events of the betrayal.
Before Jerusalem
The first mention of Judas Iscariot in the synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) is when Jesus picks his disciples. In Mark, the context is that Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, an event that occurs early on in his ministry. Next, there are great crowds gathering around Jesus from all the regions of Canaan, from Phoenicia in the north to the Negev in the south. It is because of these crowds that he appointed his twelve disciples. Given that Jesus is Yahweh, or at least a third of Yahweh, he would have know for all time that Judas Iscariot would "betray" him, so it seems odd that he would have picked Judas unless he wanted the subsequent events to occur. After picking his twelve disciples, the crowds continue to gather around him and his family, Mary and his brothers, hear of this and want to restrain him, for apparently Jesus was going “out of his mind.”
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They were watching him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him, for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.
He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve to be with him and to be sent out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: ... and Judas Iscariot, who handed him over.
Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
The author of Luke had access to, and faithfully copied much of the material in Mark in approximately the same order, as is shown in the charts here. Consequently, the story of healing the withered hand on the Sabbath appears, but then the crowds that were the impetuous for choosing the twelve disciples in Mark is skipped. In Mark, in the crowds there were many with unclean spirits, and part of the justification for choosing the twelve is so that they, too, could "cast out demons." The author of Luke leaves this out, and just has Jesus chose twelve disciples. You will recall that in Mark, there is no discussion of Jesus's birth, and it is likely that the author of Mark saw Jesus as just another human, who was adopted the Son of Yahweh at his baptism, when the Spirit of Yahweh descended to him, and then that spirit left him when he was being executed. The author of Luke, however, has Jesus born the Son of Yahweh to the virgin Mary, and Mary had had long discussions with the angel Gabriel, and Mary would have been quite aware of Jesus's divine origins, so it would be absurd for her to want to "restrain" her son or consider him to be "out of his mind." Thus, Luke leaves this out. Instead, the author of Luke takes the passage that appears before the choosing of the twelve, when crowds were coming from Phoenicia to the Negev to create the setting for the Sermon on the Plain, an abbreviated version of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew.
On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see whether he would cure on the Sabbath, so that they might find grounds to bring an accusation against him. But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand in the middle.” He got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and began discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.
Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: ... and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Luke then continues with the sermon on the plain.
Recall that in Mark, Jesus's mother Mary and his brothers wanted to restrain him do to him apparently "losing his mind," and how the author of Luke, to be internally consistent, removed this passage. However, in Mark, just a few verses further down, we see the fruition of this want to restrain Jesus: the family tries to meet with Jesus, but he is then dismissive towards them and instead says to the crowd: “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”:
Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
In an example of editorial fatigue, the author of Luke, after including the material from the Q source to create what would be called the Sermon on the Plain, continues to copy from Mark, but when he gets to the above verses, he forgets or did not realize they were the consequent events of the passage he had chosen to exclude, so Luke, too, has Jesus acting towards his mother Mary and his brothers in very dismissive tone:
Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
In Mark, Jesus choosing his disciples occurs very early on in the narrative, and as Luke more-or-less faithfully copied from Mark, generally following the same order, only adding more material here and there, has this appear at the same location. Matthew, on the other hand, initially jumped from one section of Mark to another while copying:
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Most of Mark 1 is copied into Matthew 3 and 4.
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Matthew then includes the Sermon on the Mount.
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Matthew then continues copying the end of Mark 1 into Matthew 8.
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Matthew then jumps to begin copying the end of Mark 4 and the first half of Mark 5 before copying much of Mark 2, and then returning to copy the second half of Mark 5, all of this copied to Matthew 8 and 9.
It is only now that the author of Matthew returns to Mark 3, so we are now well into the gospel, so to have Jesus only now "choose" his disciples would be awkward. Thus, the author instead simply lists the disciples:
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: ... and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel...”
The gospel of John only mentions Judas once, but in a different context, one where many of Jesus's disciples leave him, something not recorded in any of the synoptic gospels: John 6:66-71:
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.
So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”
He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
This exodus of followers is not mentioned in any of the synoptic gospels.
At Jesus's anointing
In Mark 11, we start with Jesus's triumphal entrance to Jerusalem. This is, of course, an attempt to parallel Jesus's entry into Jerusalem with the entrance of those generals who entered Rome in triumph. The anointing is then mentioned in subsequent narratives:
Mark 14:1-2 gives the timeline:
It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”
Next, in Mark 14:3-9, we have the anointing, but note that it is not just Judas raising objections, but at least one other disciple, for it is "some" who said to one another in anger:
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.
But some were there who said to one another in anger,
“Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.”
And they scolded her.
But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
Only then is Judas identified in Mark 14:10-11:
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.
When they heard it, they were greatly pleased and promised to give him money.
So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
Matthew also gives a timeline, but together with a prophesy in Matthew 26:1-5:
When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.”
Next, we get a similar story to that in Mark, but now it appears to be all of the disciples who complain, as is recorded in Matthew 6-13:
Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.
But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said,
“Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.”
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
Judas is only subsequently identified in Matthew 26:14-16:
Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver.
And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
Note that in Mark, the chief priests only promised to give him money, while in Matthew, they pay Judas on the spot.
In Luke, remember that the anointing happened long before Jesus reached Jerusalem: he was anointed in the home of Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7:36-50. In Luke, the anointing at Bethany and the negativity demonstrated by the disciples is missing and all that is left is the surrounding text in Luke 22:1-6:
Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put
Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people.
Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them.
They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money.
So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present.
Only in Luke does it say that Satan "entered" Judas, while in Mark and Matthew, the proximity of the anointing of Jesus and the associated negativity would suggest that it was the lavish spending on the ointment that caused Judas to become disillusioned by his teacher that he agreed to betray Jesus. Like Mark (from whom the author of Luke copied), there is only an agreement to pay Judas.
In the gospel of John, the anointing does not occur after, but rather before the triumphal entry, and not two days but six days before Passover, as recorded in John 12:1-8:
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him.
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair.
The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,
“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
(He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
Note that Judas is the one saying this, and only Judas. This was not said by two or more of the disciples who were raising objections because of the waste, but because of Judas's greed. They had not yet entered Jerusalem, and so now this is at the home of the resurrected Lazarus, not Simon the leper, and Mary the sister of Martha is identified, as opposed to being simply referred to as "a woman." Oddly, the only other gospel to mention Mary and Martha is the gospel of Luke, who mentions neither of these women in connection with the anointing. In Luke 10:38-42, we have
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Thus, while Mark and Matthew generally agree about the facts regarding the anointing, except that Matthew is the only gospel that has Judas Iscariot paid up front, the gospels of Luke and John diverge significantly. Neither has the anointing occurring at the home of Simon the leper, and the author of Luke leaves this altogether out while the author of John refers to Mary and Martha; sisters only mentioned in Luke, although only the author of John mentions that these two are also the sisters of Lazarus, the person who resurrection was only mentioned in the gospel of John.
Before the Passover meal
In the gospel of John, a peculiar event is mentioned in John 13:1-11:
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already decided that Judas son of Simon Iscariot would betray Jesus. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Now, it seems that the devil has chosen Judas, but if this is so, why would Jesus subsequently say that “It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” The author later continues in John 13:21-30:
After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining close to his heart; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
All of this happens prior to the Passover meal, for in John, Jesus is sacrificed on the day before the Passover meal (recalling that the "next" day starts at sunset). The parallel events in Mark and Matthew occur at the Passover meal.
At the Passover meal
In Mark 14:17-21, there is only a passing reference to Jesus's betrayal at the Passover meal:
When it was evening, he came with the twelve. And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.”
No mention is made of Judas, but if Jesus is Yahweh, then before the Earth was even created, Jesus knew this would occur if the world was created in the way that he did, so why would he be so angry at Judas? This was Jesus's plan from the very start.
In Matthew, the author explicitly singles out Judas at the Passover meal in Matthew 26:20-25:
When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve disciples, and while they were eating he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.”
The author of Luke, despite using Mark as a reference, explicitly left out any reference to this occurring during the Passover meal.
The setting for the betrayal
We finally get to Mark 14:26-42, where we have Jesus and his disciples finishing the Passover meal and then:
When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives...
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
He took with him Peter and James and John and began to be distressed and agitated... And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him...
He came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to say to him.
He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”
It is clear that they had been a significant time in this garden, for Jesus goes to pray and yet finds his disciples asleep.
The author of Matthew faithfully copies from the text of Mark, so immediately after the Passover meal in Matthew 26:30-46 we have:
When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives...
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and agitated... And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed..
Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Again he went away for the second time and prayed, ... Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”
The author of Luke abbreviates these events, but also includes an angel visiting Jesus, together with Luke 22:39-46:
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him...
When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, ...
Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”
Jesus is Yahweh, and Jesus knew for millions of years before these events occurred that they would occur, and Jesus knew that he would return to heaven after this very short period of inconvenience, so why is he so desperate? Luke is the only author to record these drops of blood.
The author of John tells an even more abbreviated preamble in John 18:1:
After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.
The Kidron Valley is between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, and the Garden of Gethsemane is at the foot of the Mount of Olives, so all of the geographical details align.
The betrayal
We finally get to an event recorded in all four gospels. In Mark, after Jesus is praying at the Garden of Gethsemane, we have the betrayal together with an additional homoerotic action in Mark 14:43-52:
Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived, and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.
Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.”
So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Then they laid hands on him and arrested him.
But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
Then Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a rebel? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.”
All of them deserted him and fled. A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.
Matthew 27:47-56 tells a similar story,
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.
Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.”
At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.”
Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.
Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?”
At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a rebel? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.”
Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
In Luke 22:47-53:
While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them.
He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?”
When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.
Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as though I were a rebel? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness!”
Notice that only in Luke does the author suggest that Jesus healed the slave whose right ear was cut off.
In John 18:1-12, we have a different story:
After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.
Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place because Jesus often met there with his disciples.
So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Whom are you looking for?”
They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus replied, “I am he.”
Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground.
Again he asked them, “Whom are you looking for?”
And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these people go.”
This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.”
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him.
The dialog is completely different, and there is no mention of the kiss. Additionally, the additionally funny story of the soldiers stepping back and falling on the ground when Jesus says “I am he.” is hilariously funny, and not at all suggested in any of the synoptic gospels. The reference to a fulfillment of prophesy comes from a narrative in John 6:35-40, where Jesus says:
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life... And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day...”
More interestingly is the difference between the four gospels as to who appears to arrest Jesus:
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a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
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a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people
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a crowd
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a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees
Again, the authors of Matthew and Luke were copying from Mark, so they both use the word "crowd" but the author of John now includes a "detachment of soldiers" and police. The reader is also welcome to compare and contrast the words of Jesus between these four accounts.
The death of Judas
Judas's suicide is only mentioned in two gospels. First in Matthew 27:3-10:
When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.
He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.
But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.”
After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
The story in Acts (written by the same author as Luke) we have in Acts 1:15-26:
In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16 “Brothers and sisters, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus, for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”
(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the book of Psalms,
‘Let his house become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’;
and
‘Let another take his position of overseer.’
“So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles.
You will note that in Matthew, Judas returns the money and simply hangs himself. There is no mention made of the location where Judas hanged himself. Instead, it is only after the chief priests conferred that they decide to purchase a "potter's field as a place to bury foreigners," and this was specifically there to fulfill a prophesy in Jeremiah 32, although I'm not exactly sure which is being referred to.
In Luke, however, it is Judas who purchases the field with his silver, and he goes there to kill himself by "falling headlong" and "burst[ing] open in the middle, and all his bowels gush[ing] out." These are two different prophesies not in Jeremiah but in Psalms 69 and the second does not actually appear to originate from the Psalms.
Summary
However, in all cases, none of the stories in the gospels agree with respect to the details of Judas Iscariot other than he was a disciple, he betrayed Jesus, the arrest was at the base of the Mount of Olives, and that someone cut off the ear of a slave during this arrest. Exactly what did he betray? It is almost certain that he informed the high priests that Jesus had had himself anointed, thereby declaring himself as some sort of authority over the Judean people, placing himself in direct opposition to the Roman state, and thus he was subsequently found guilty of sedition (of having had himself anointed and declaring himself to be "King of the Jews") and executed.
However, all other details surrounding Judas and the arrest differ significantly, even though the authors of Matthew and Luke had access to Mark. As the author of John likely had no access to any of the three synoptic gospels, his version of events differs even more significantly.
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When the disciples are listed, this appears in approximately the same relative location in Mark and Luke where the twelve are being appointed or chosen, although the very next passage in Mark which has Mary and Jesus's brothers wanting to restrain Jesus as he had “gone out of his mind” is absent in Luke, even though later on, both Mark and Luke continue to describe the subsequent meeting of Jesus and his family. In Matthew, the list appears in the context that the twelve had already been chosen, and the surrounding texts differ. John does not enumerate the disciples.
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John, the twelve are not enumerated, but it describes a situation where many of Jesus's disciples left him, and he appears to have been left with only twelve that he had “chosen.” However, even at this point, he describes Judas as a “devil.”
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With respect to the anointing of Jesus:
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In both Mark and Matthew, two days before the Passover when Jesus is anointed in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, it is some or apparently all of the disciples who complain about the extravagant cost of the ointment (in Mark, 300 denarii or around 37 Troy ounces or in the ballpark of $750).
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In Luke, the anointing occurred in the home of Simon the Pharisee somewhere in Galilee, not Bethany on the southeastern slopes of the Mount of Olives.
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In John, the anointing occurred six days before the Passover and before Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem in the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha in Bethany, again. There it is only Judas who raises an objection to the extravagant cost of the ointment, but the author also includes the motivation of Judas: he wanted to steal the money for himself. John does repeat the amount described in Mark, 300 denarii.
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As for Judas's reaction immediately following Jesus's anointing in Mark and Matthew, this is when Judas meets with the chief priests and he agrees to hand over Jesus, although only in Matthew is it indicated that he is paid at this time. In Luke, in the same relative location in the narrative, but now only indicating that the Passover “was near,” but unlike Mark and Matthew who have the meeting juxtaposed with the anointing, Luke explains the betray as a consequence of "Satan" entering Judas. The meeting with the Jewish leaders is never-the-less very similar.
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John includes a story about Jesus taking off his robe, tying a towel around himself, and washing the feet of his disciples, and it is at this time that it is revealed that the devil had decided that Judas would betray Jesus. The homoerotic story, however, does not appear in any of the synoptic gospels, despite some giving a day-by-day account of Jesus's actions that last week.
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The gospel of John does not describe the Passover meal for Jesus dies on the day prior to the Passover meal in that gospel, signifying that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb. The author of John does mention a meal, but this meal does not include the breaking of the bread or the sharing of wine. The three synoptic gospels, however, do mention the Passover meal, yet only Mark, Matthew and John describe Jesus as sharing bread dipped into a bowl being passed on to Judas; this story, while appearing in John, is absent in Luke.
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The setting for the betrayal in Mark and Matthew is almost similar: they first leave the Passover meal for the Mount of Olives and then descend to the Garden of Gethsemanes at its base. Here, Jesus appears to pray for a significant amount of time--at least one hour--as Jesus returns three times to the disciples and finds them sleeping and wakes them up. The third time, he announces that Judas has come. Luke abbreviates this story (only mentioning the Mount of Olives but not the garden) but includes the appearance of an angel sent to minister to him as well as the supernatural appearance of blood in his sweat, but Luke only mentions Jesus coming up to the sleeping disciples once, and he does not announce the coming of Judas. In John, they are not leaving the Passover meal, but rather, after a long oration by Jesus, the disciples cross the valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and simply has the group arriving at the garden; there is no mention of Jesus praying, nor of any angel or of drops of sweat like blood.
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In Mark, Matthew and Luke, Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss; this is not mentioned in John. Instead, in John, Jesus steps forward and announces himself. Judas is described as still standing with those who came to arrest Jesus.
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Only Mark mentions the naked young man fleeing the scene.
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Only John has a fanciful stand off between Jesus and those coming to arrest him:
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Jesus asks who the crowd are looking for, and they name "Jesus of Nazareth," and then Jesus announces himself saying "I am he," but now the soldiers step back and fall to the ground. The comedy continues with Jesus asking again who they are looking looking for, and for some reason, they once again say they are looking for "Jesus of Nazareth."
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All gospels mention that the ear of a slave of the high priest was cut off, but only John mentions the name of the perpetrator (Simon Peter) and the slave (Malchus). None of the gospels indicate that the perpetrator was arrested for this crime. Only in Luke does Jesus heal the slave.
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There is very little overlap between the four gospels as to what Jesus actually said at this event.
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Finally, recalling that while the authors of Matthew and Luke copied from Mark, they did not have access to each other's works, and so where they deviate from Mark, their stories are significantly different:
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Matthew has the family start in Bethlehem, flee to Egypt, and then return only to be sent to Galilee where they come across Nazareth; while Luke has the family start in Nazareth, go to Bethlehem for a census, and then return via Jerusalem to Nazareth.
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Matthew and Luke disagree on the order Jesus visits the temple and the mountain to see the kingdoms of the world during the 40 days in the wilderness.
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Matthew has the disciples believe the women at the tomb and follow their instructions to go meet Jesus in Galilee; while Luke has the disciples not believe the women, Jesus meets them in the vicinity of Jerusalem and explicitly tells them to not leave Jerusalem.
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Similarly, Matthew has Judas return the money and goes to hang himself at an unidentified location, after which the chief priests purchase a potter's field to be used as a cemetery for foreigners, in fulfillment of a prophesy in Jeremiah; while Acts has Judas buy the field and somehow fell head-first onto the ground, and this somehow caused his bowels to rupture, staining the ground in fulfillment of prophesy in the Psalms.
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As for apologetics, each that I have read focuses on one of these differences, and not all. The author gives a plausible alternative explanation that may appear to sort-of harmonize the various accounts in the gospels for that one difference, and that is all the true believer wants to hear: something to placate them and to allay their concerns regarding the inerrancy of Christian scriptures. No apologist points out that almost every single passage describing the actions or interactions of Judas significantly differ between some or all of the gospels. After all, the true believer is not interested in the truth, the true believer is only interested in the belief. And for those who are not fundamentalist Christians:
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For one who is not interested in biblical inerrancy, then the above differences are much more interesting from the point of view of determining and understanding what was the setting in which these gospels were written, and how did the earliest views of these various communities differed in their interpretation of the life and events of Jesus.
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For a Jew, this document will hopefully point out some of the many weaknesses in the so-called messianic aspirations of Jesus of Nazareth that are subsequently re-interpreted as Jesus being a second third of Yahweh; although it must be equally frustrating to see that these so-called scriptures are so obviously fabricated, and yet, for millennia, these stories have been used to denigrate and to justify hatred and force against the Jewish nation: Jesus was a failed but charismatic itinerant apocalyptic Jewish teacher who, in the end, developed a messianic complex, had himself anointed and disrupted the Passover celebrations; the Jewish leaders dealt with him appropriately by handing him over to the Roman authorities.
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For a Muslim, these significant variations should be compared and contrasted with the much simpler narrative in the Quran that does not even mention Judas, as Jesus (عِيسَى) never died on the cross, and thus, there is no need for such a significant emphasis on the betrayal.
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For an atheist recovering from fundamentalist Christianity, this should help the former believer understand that there are significant differences in the gospels, and that the scriptures do have significant differences that are simply irreconcilable, and as shown above, it is not just one or two differences, but where almost every passage describing the actions of Judas as being irreconcilable.