Mark 14:11

‘And they, when they heard it, were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently hand him over.'

Mark gives a brief summary of what the situation was. Matthew provides more detail. Matthew points out that obtaining money was always part of his intention and that he negotiated a price, thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. The price was probably a deliberate indication of the contempt the chief priests had for Jesus for they may well have had Zechariah 11:13 in mind. But Mark's connecting here of the giving of money with the handing over of Jesus is sufficient to show that he also equally considered that this was unquestionably one of the incentives that spurred Judas on.

‘They were glad.' Judas offered them the opportunity to arrest Jesus when He was alone with His disciples. This ‘delighted their hearts'. It had seemingly solved their problem. They would have been less glad had they known what would result in the long run.

‘And promised to give him money.' The whole purpose of Mark's comment is that Judas was acting mercenarily. He was bribed. Even if Matthew had not said so we would have gathered that this was part of Judas' purpose.

‘He sought how he might conveniently hand Him over.' From then on Judas was plotting in his mind how he could deliver Jesus to them. Note the constant use of the verb ‘deliver, hand over' just as Jesus had prophesied (Mark 9:31; Mark 10:33). Judas was unintentionally fulfilling Jesus' prophecy.

What did Judas provide that made the chief priests so pleased? Firstly information as to Jesus' whereabouts at a time when He could be arrested safely at night away from the crowds (Luke 22:6). Secondly guidance to the spot (John 18:2). And thirdly the kiss that would identify Jesus at night to those who had come to arrest Him so that they did not mistakenly arrest the wrong person (Mark 14:45). It was all carefully planned. The detail is against the idea that Judas' was simply seeking to spur Jesus into Messianic action. In his mood at that time he wanted to make absolutely sure that He was taken.