What is the cost of our integrity? How much would it take for you to give it up?

How Much Does Our Integrity Cost?

Is there a limit to virtue for you? Or are you willing to pay the cost that is sometimes required of us to follow Jesus? It is easy to say that we will be virtuous and upright when that virtue is not tested and righteousness comes at no cost. But what if we are pushed into a place where there is a cost to our obedience to God? If our moral code and standards of behaviour push up against some other part of our life which leads us to having to chose between our faith and some other part of our life?

When Judas went to betray Jesus, I wonder what was going through his head. Was he feeling let down and betrayed by a Messiah he believed would overthrow the Romans, but turned out to be a prince of peace? Perhaps he was angry at being sidelined. Or maybe he was scared that his thievery was going to be discovered. Maybe he was just greedy and wanted some money. I don’t know why he did it.

Is Your Temptation Greater Than Your Integrity?

The Gospel writers say that Satan entered Judas to get him to betray Jesus. There are times when temptation feels too great for us. Or when we end up doing something we know is wrong, even when we are doing it, a part of us tells us not to do it. But I wonder if the Gospel writers sometimes sought a reason to introduce additional levels of spiritual conflict. I am always wary of giving too much weight to claims that Satan made people do things. Perhaps Judas left himself open to the kind of temptation that was just too much for him to resist. I don’t know. I hope I will never be in the position that Judas was in.

But I wonder if sometimes our 30 pieces of silver are a bit more subtle. Maybe we don’t always recognise the cost of our integrity. Maybe sometimes betraying Jesus doesn’t look like doing evil, but looks like doing something that appears to be good or virtuous. We know that telling the truth is important, but what if telling the truth got someone else hurt? We know it is wrong to steal, but what if not stealing means someone else ends up starving? Where do we draw our lines in the sand?

What if our decision-making puts our own moral choices above the needs of the people around us? Do I value my own virtue above the hunger or the pain or my neighbour? Perhaps our 30 pieces of silver is choosing to do what we think is good, even when it is at the expense of our neighbour. Perhaps we need to rethink what it means to be righteous, what it means to be virtuous. Maybe this Easter, it is time to put our own moral values second to the needs of the people around us.

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