Gospel of Judas
I don't consider myself a Christian much these days anymore, but even when I did, I always had this incredible respect for Judas. Those of us who were forced ever went to Christian Sunday School were always taught that Judas was The Great Traitor, a horrible man who gave Jesus up to the Romans for a handful of pocket change or something equally selfish. I honestly never agreed with that. First of off, we never got to hear his side of the story, and I was taught from a young age not to cast judgment until both sides of any story - be it about Christianity, an argument among friends, whatever - had been explained and the reasons someone had for making the decisions they did. Secondly, we were also taught from the beginning of our long, exhausting Sunday School years that Jesus *was* going to die for our sins, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It was something that Jesus knew at age 12 and something God had planned from the moment he got noncoporially frisky with Mary. It *was* going to happen, which meant that someone eventually had to betray Christ. I always had this secret theory that Judas wasn't the evil traitor, he was simply the only one of the Disciple who had courage and strength enough to do what was destined to happen anyway, and I think Jesus knew that too. Lets face it, Jesus had all of those guys eating out of the palm of his hand; the Disciples loved him so much that any of them would have gladly thrown themselves in front of a speeding camel or wagon to save him. The problem was, Jesus didn't *need* to be saved... He needed to be sacrificed.
So tell me this; if there was someone you loved, someone you would do anything for, someone you'd give your very life for in order to keep safe and keep from harm, would you be able to do what Judas did? If the one person you loved more than anything in the world came up to and told you that he or she had to be sacrificed in order to save the lives of millions, and asked you to be the one to plunge the knife into their heart, could you, with all honesty, have done so? I know I sure as hell couldn't, but that is exactly what Judas did. He didn't *want* the task, either. As soon as Jesus pointed him out as the betrayer at the Last Supper, he ran away into the night. In my opinion, he did this *not* because he was ashamed of being named the betrayer, but because he was terrified of what he knew he eventually had to do and he was trying to run away from his destiny; just like Jesus asked God to "Please take this cup away from me" in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Obviously, Judas came back and did what he had to do because, if the Bible is anything to judge by, you can't run from your fate. He knew this awful thing had to be done, and that it was for the greater good even if it tore him apart, which is exactly what it did. Before they took Jesus away, if I'm remembering correctly (and as Sunday School was a long time ago, there's a very good chance I'm not, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), Judas fell at his feet weeping, begging for forgiveness. After Jesus had been led away, Judas took the money he received from the Romans and bought some land that he turned into a cemetery for homeless people, and then he killed himself because of what he had done to his best friend.
The latter part is a story that I believe was only told in one of the current Gospels (though don't ask me which because I couldn't tell you, I just know its there somewhere), which is another reason why I'm happy (grateful? glad?) that Judas's Gospel has been found. I may be completely and entirely wrong in all the ideas I posted above, but if nothing else comes of this discovery, I really am glad that Judas will - hopefully - get his story told.
I know that most of you probably won't read anything under the cut because "Ew, Religious stuff!", and that is perfectly and completely fine by me. I just felt that I had to say *something* about my feelings on this subject because Immanuel United Methodist Church was such a big part of my life for such a long time, and not saying anything kind of made me feel traitor to my childhood, and to the little girl inside of me who I used to be who still believes that "God is up in heaven and he/she is always watching over us."
Matthew 27 - most on Judas
Mark 14
Luke 22 - very little on Judas
John 13, 14, 17 (Jesus prays for everyone), and 18 (arresting Jesus) - most on Last Supper