Judas & Forgiveness (3 min Read)

Here Rachael discusses Jesus and Forgiveness; how we use it to define others and ourselves. Plus some of the evidence around the real figures from the Bible.

Yesterday I had an inspired vision of Judas? Why I asked myself? Ah, it’s Good Friday, the day he was meant to have killed himself. I was waiting for some inspiration for this Easter weekend and I had been given it.

But what is the true story of Judas? The traditional story is that Judas betrayed Judas for 30 pieces of silver. If this is true, then it is worth looking at the whole picture. Jesus (Joshua) was the leader of a movement, not just religious but also political, in a time when the Jewish population was under control of the Romans. The group, also linked to the group which wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, had many goals and the fact that Jesus may have been considered the Messiah was not necessarily at the for front of everyone’s priorities. Jesus was exposing the group to great scrutiny – the Romans could ignore a crack pot healer and preacher, but when he road into town on Palm Sunday he was essentially looking for trouble. It was not understood by the group; don’t forget Peter-Simon, seen as Jesus’ right hand man, denied Jesus not once, but three times! Fear was certainly as aspect, as Jesus was now making political enemies in the Roman community as well as the Jewish. But was Jesus taking the group where it needed to go? Was he doing the right thing? Did he have too much power in society for them to topple him as the part of their movement.?

Judas was said to have betrayed Jesus to the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders. It was the religious side that he had offended the most and they would have to convince the Romans that he was also an unstable person on a political level. Don’t forget Jesus had chosen Judas to walk alongside him as he had any other disciple, all of whom we revere today. He was obviously not an evil person, otherwise he could not have been part of the group for so long. Judas had a job to do, a heinous task which Jesus had chosen him specifically for. Did Judas feel Jesus had stepped out too far and in order to take their political agenda forward, needed to be ousted? No wonder he regretted his actions so fundamentally that he took his own life; retrospection is a great leveller.

But he was not able to see the true reasons, the reasons we all know now, for him to betray Jesus. For Jesus to show us that death was not the end, it was just part of the journey and to get us to understand ourselves and out physical being, alongside our spiritual being, on a whole other level.

There is much conjecture over whether he existed as a character we all know and understand. Judas comes from Judah, one of the Jewish 12 tribes of Israel. The way the modern Bible is, the Gospels that were chosen by the early Roman Catholic church to be included, has been heavily influenced by St Paul, was Saul before his conversion. He was well known to be a non-fan of the Jews as well as women. (He was a Christian slayer before he was converted). When Constantine converted to the increasingly popular Christian religion over the dwindling Roman pagan religion, would he have felt comfortable with what his own people had done to Christ? Would he have been drawn to the stories that made it look like it was someone else’s fault? Maybe the Jews, who had been enslaved a suitable scape goat?

There is much discussion, in and out of the Catholic church, about whether Judas was a real person at all, but a concoction to further remove the blame from the Romans. Of course, this is alongside the discussion about whether Jesus was stood up against Barabas at all. There is evidence to show that maybe Jesus’s surname was in fact Barabas, and in separating the religious part of Jesus and the criminal part of Jesus, as well as Pontious Pilate washing his hands as the Jewish crowd jeered for Jesus to be put to death. All of this absolved the Romans.

All of this is for each of us to consider and make our own minds up about.

What is certain is that there is no doubt Jesus would have forgiven Judas as he forgave many, especially considering Jesus had placed this at Judas feet knowing what was ahead (Jesus admitted he knew all in the garden of Gethsemane).

Before we judge others we must walk in another persons shoes; we must be empathetic and understand them. Look at their life and maybe their decisions make more sense. Still remember once bitten, twice shy; but it should allow you to move on easier from big hurts and totally forgive the inconsequential hurts. The lesson of Good Friday is not just about sacrifice, doing something even though you know the road ahead is difficult, it is about forgiveness and, first and foremost, about the fact that one action does not define a person.

Love as Always

Rachael x