30 Pieces of Silver

30 Pieces of Silver

​Oh, what did you gain from the silver?
And, what was that kiss really worth?
Your fateful decision now met with derision
by all who have traveled this earth.

For, thirty mere pieces of silver — 
the price of a slave's life, when lost;
this old law of Moses now vividly shows us
what you thought Messiah's life cost.

Did you feel remorse in the garden,
when seeing your Lord face to face?
When you were betraying was your conscience swaying
between revolution and grace?

​Returning those pieces of silver,
did you think events could reverse?
Your three years befriended by Jesus now ended;
a life that was blessed — now a curse.

Once life was no longer worth living,
with you at the end of your rope;
before you stopped breathing did you dare believe in
Christ's love of forgiveness and hope?

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I had been working on an Easter poem for two or three weeks and had 2 lines and no title to show for my efforts. Ten days before Good Friday, I was thinking about writing a line about Judas Iscariot into the poem and googled "30 pieces of silver", which led me to threads about how much that would be in today's terms.  Ideas began percolating, and this poem was written in a matter of hours.