Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Judas: Saint or Villain?

It's funny that Jared should make the request that he did.  Just this last week I read this in "Christians at the Cross," which is a book of  Easter week sermons by NT Wright:

"... those of us who are used to hearing the story of Judas Iscariot may be a little hardened to it, and we need to remind ourselves what was actually happening.

Judas was one of Jesus' closest friends and trusted companions.  Trusted?  Yes: he kept the
 purse.  He was the treasurer... you give them a great temptation to misuse their trust, but
 Jesus presumably had trusted Judas, at least in the beginning.  We of course look back on the story and we know from early on that Judas was the traitor, but nobody else knew that at the time.  In the story we've just read, when Jesus says, 'One of you is going to betray me,' they don't all turn round and point the finder at Judas and say, 'Oh yes, we all know who that's going to be.'  They were all worried: it isn't going to be me, is it?  Only Jesus knows.  Judas is one of them.  He has been part of it all, has seen Jesus heal lepers, preach the gospel, raise the dead.  He's done it himself, casting out demons in Jesus' name, watching God's 
power do new things.  And now...

We don't know why Judas did it" (Wright 34).

What do you think?
Why did Judas do it?
Have turned Judas into a villain?
If so, does he deserve it?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the program "Naked Archaeologist". The program is hosted by a Jewish Christian archaeologist. He had one program on Judas, and he made some very interesting observations. Judas did not betray Jesus to the Romans...he betrayed Jesus to the Jewish high council. The program gave some interesting evidence that Judas himself felt betrayed that the Jewish high council teamed up with the Romans. The evidence suggests that Judas hung/impaled himself in the family burial plot of the high priest as an act of revenge against the high priest. Take that as you may, but it's some interesting stuff to ponder! (I'm not sure if there's a way of watching Naked Archaeologist on-line, but if so, it's worth seeing!

Anonymous said...

Something that many Christians today forget - which you touched on - is that Judas was not pure evil. As you said Tim he was one Jesus' most trusted disciples. I believe - and this is why I suggested him - that Judas has been typecast because of his most memorable offense.
This brings me to my point, what was Judas actually like? There is not a lot of Biblical text to go on, but what kind of man was he? What could have been Jesus' reasons for choosing Judas. How does he fit in with the other eleven?

Anonymous said...

Some observations on Judas Iscariot for consideration:
- Was only Judean among the 12. Rest were Galileans
-About 20 mentions in NT.
-Most often identified as "one of the twelve" or as the one who betrayed Him.
-Is always placed last among the twelve in list of 12 in the Synoptics.
-He received the same mandate for ministry as the rest of 12. Matt10:4ff.
-Trusted by Jesus to care for the money. However John(12:6) calls him thief, pilfering from the money box.
-Intentions not suspected by other disciples.
-Jesus called him a devil. John 6:70f
-Several texts reveal that Judas was intentional in planning his betrayal. It was not an impulsive act. Does this imply that Judas had free choice in his actions?
-Other texts identify that his act was inspired by the devil/satan who entered him. Was he a pawn of cosmic struggle?
-Peter states in Acts 1:16ff that the Holy Spirit predicted Judas'actions (Ps 69 & 109),a fulfilment of Scripture, and that Judas went to his own place. For some this seems to imply predestination- that he had no choice in the unfolding events.
-In Matt.27 Judas had remorse when he realized that Jesus would be killed. Some see this as evidence that Judas had his own agenda for Jesus, his own expectation of what Jesus would do after he was arrested, i.e. perhaps to vanquish enemies and set up the political Kingdom of David. When this did not happen he committed suicide.

Lisa Sawatzky said...

You know what I want to know, that passage in I Peter... oh wait, I have to go get my Bible... 3:18-21. I'm so lost! Who were the 8 that were saved? Who did Jesus go preach to? What goes on here?

Sorry, that has nothing to do with Judas, but I feel for the guy. He was really following Jesus, he wasn't a bad guy, but my guess is he probably just kept stumbling until he finally couldn't stand the guilt and shame of being with Jesus so he thought he'd eliminate the problem. But that just made it worse! So the poor guy went out and hung himself. I feel bad for him.

Lisa Sawatzky said...

Better yet, discuss the history of Valentine's and whether or not we are all evil if we participate in giving Valentine's gifts to our loved ones. That's always a great controversial topic.

Lisa Sawatzky said...

Oh wait, I'm thinking your next topic should actually be on the inappropriateness of old cartoons. I was watching Woody Woodpecker last week before Lent and he kept saying "Shut Up" to everyone. Bugs Bunny also was fairly rude to others... or more the others were rude to him... and who knows what other old shows might have held that we didn't realize back then. You could probably do a whole study on Fragglerock alone!

heather said...

Lisa's comment got me to thinking, what about the use of violence/killing/adventure-type things in older children's books (such as "Peter Pan", "Treasure Island", etc), which is frowned upon in much of today's literature for children.I don't know if this is applicable to your theosophist pursuits, but I think it would be interesting, and I would like to know what more people think about the "sterilization" of children's literature and so on.

Lisa Sawatzky said...

BORING!! You need to change this blog. Preferably to something along the lines of what Heather and I suggested. I could sabotage your blog and write it for you... what do you think about that?

Lisa Sawatzky said...

You could even write a blog about the book study you're doing. You know a lot about that.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tim,

I know this post is already old, but reading your post got me to thinking for a while.

Short answer to your questions, yes, Judas is a villain and yes, he deserved his punishment. As to what I think and why, here's the long answer.

There are strong parallels you can draw between Judas and Kind Saul. Like Judas, King Saul was chosen and anointed by God. Like Judas, Saul had the "Spirit of the Lord come upon him in power, and you (he, meaning Saul) will prophesy and will be changed into a different person." (NIV 1 Sam 10:6) Saul did good during his Kingship. This included the expulsion of all witches and witchcraft, as well as just protection of the Jews; most notably coming to the defence of the city of Jabesh and kicking the living crap out of the Ammorites.

However, Like Judas, Saul didn't understand God and over time, sought his own vices and became almost completely depraved. As a result, the "Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.” (NIV1 Sam 16:14) Similarly, when Jesus singled out Judas as His betrayer, “Judas took the bread, and satan entered him.” (NIV John 13:27) Instead of seeking God out when faced with temptation and trouble, both Judas and King Saul turned to evil. This evil then consumed them.

As a result, when faced with the sheer horror of their actions, although previously expressing remorse, both Judas and King Saul completely self destructed. When his back was against the wall and his life in danger, Saul, instead of seeking out God, sought the instruction of a witch. Saul’s depravity completes itself when, after being told that he will die, Saul “fell full length on the ground, filled with fear.” (NIV 1Sam 28:20) Saul felt total dispair, which resulted in his suicide.

Judas is in the same boat. When understanding the magnitude of his betrayal, Judas “threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.” (NIV Matt. 27:5) Both men did not seek God’s forgiveness, and consequently did not receive His grace. This, I would argue, is because both men never understood God. Peter, in contrast, did. Peter betrayed God as well, but sought God out, even jumping out of a boat, swimming to shore in order to repent to God. (NIV John 21)

I believe motivation exceeds intention. These concepts can get rather abstract and result in a debate over election . . .

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on this Tim. Sorry this is a rather lengthy response, what do you think?

Clint Langelaar

Anonymous said...

I think Judas was just human. I think he relised that Jesus would get them all murdered and feared for the lives of Jesus's followers. I have always felt sorry for Judas because i think that when Jesus started portaying himself as the massiah, Judas didnt see him in that way and wanted him to see sense. If you think about it Judas had probably grown up with Jesus and though of him as but a man. Its obvious Judas loved Jesus and i think if you believe in god, that they were both used. I think Jesus knew what was happening but relised that Judas reacted on impulse to save their people. If Jesus is the son of god, he would have understood and had pity on Judas.

Timothy Braun said...

You have some interesting points there. I particularly agree with your point that Judas truly loved Jesus and the other disciples. In my opinion Judas was well-intentioned but mis-understood the scope of the Kingdom of God.

I realize that this is conjecture, but I think Judas was trying to push Jesus into the "Judas Maccabeus" messiah stereotype. He wanted Jesus to be forced into a position where He would have to claim Messiahship outright and lead a revolution to free Israel.

I think He simply didn't grasp that the Kingdom of Gdd isn't about politics. It is clear from the remorse he showed that his intentions were good... his sin was forcing his agenda onto Christ; something I think we may all be guilty of?