By the time Jesus had led his disciples across the countryside to Jerusalem, the air was full of revolution. They had stirred up crowds in town after town, and everyone was expecting a showdown in Jerusalem.
There would be a crowd there for Passover, just like every year. But this time, a charismatic, powerful, persuasive leader was in rare form, ready to make things right.
Judas, probably, was also cheering Jesus on. But maybe Judas became frustrated with Jesus's way of dealing with all the bad guys. Jesus just debated with the religious authorities, and he seemed to ignore the Roman occupiers. So maybe Judas wanted to speed things up. Maybe he thought that Jesus would finally show his strength if he had to. So Judas betrayed Jesus, expecting Jesus to meet the challenge by force.
But Jesus did not fight back. He didn't even let his friends fight for him. He just gave up and let the bad guys take him away.
When he saw how it played out, Judas was so overcome with remorse, he tried to return his blood money and ultimately took his own life. He even died before Jesus did.
We can only guess what Judas was thinking.
