Should we have compassion for Judas?

Should we have compassion for Judas, or can we tell bad from good?
Copyright © 2008 by Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III

When I speak about Judas, I am not talking about Judas who begat Phares and Zara, nor am I talking about Judas of Galilee, but Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, who betrayed Jesus Christ. It is he whom I feel is the most misunderstood person in the Bible. Even the writers of the Bible seem to miss the point of Christ’s life when they speak of Judas! It is understandable: they loved Jesus not as you and I do—not as a mystical Savior who died 2,000 years ago—but as a friend they lived with every day, and whose absence hurt them. They needed to put the blame for this hurt on someone; why not Judas? After all, Judas could not defend himself—first, because he did cause Jesus to be killed; and second, because Judas was dead!

To begin, let us try to look at the life of Judas from the only source on it that I have found: the New Testament of the Bible.

Judas was the son of Simon. Out of all the people living at that time, Jesus chose him to be one of His twelve disciples. Jesus told His disciples (Matt. 26:2), “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” After hearing this and being moved by the devil, Judas went to the chief priests and made an agreement to deliver Jesus to them, and for this he was paid. At the Passover feast Jesus told His disciples what would happen to Judas: “Woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born.” Then Judas answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?” Jesus said to him, “You have said it” (Matt. 26:24–25). Judas brought the crowd to take Jesus, and to show them whom to arrest, Judas kissed Him. Judas then waited until Jesus was condemned, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the priests (which fulfilled prophecy), and then he hung himself.

Most people, when they think of Judas, think of the man who sold Jesus: a man without a heart, a man interested only in himself, a man taken over by the devil. Let us take a look at these points one at a time.

Judas sold Jesus.

Yes, it is clear that Judas took money. But did he ask for blood money—did he put out a sign that read “For sale: one Savior in good condition, needs shoes”? Well, maybe. But Mark 14:10–11 says, “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. So when they heard it they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.” We see that he was promised money—not that he asked for it, and not that he wanted it. It is quite possible that the vision of this event in Jesus Christ Superstar is right: a Judas torn apart by what he had to do, forced to take the money by a group of self-serving priests who wanted to use him and cleanse themselves of murder by paying him to do their dirty work.

Judas was a man without a heart.

On my home page you will find an early work of mine on this subject. For now, let us look at the facts from the Bible. Judas showed the guards whom to arrest by kissing Jesus—not by pointing, and not by walking up and saying, “This is the man you want.” Kissing Him? Why? Because he did not want the disciples to know who betrayed Jesus? Judas had already admitted betrayal at the Last Supper, so there was nothing to hide. Could it be that he kissed Him the way one might kiss someone they love before they go off to war, or embrace them before they face danger?

The Bible tells us that Judas gave back the money and killed himself because of what he had caused to happen to Jesus. Is this the act of a man without a heart, or of a man who did not love Jesus? It could be the act of a man who loved Jesus and understood Him more than anyone at that time, or someone who wanted to do the will of God—someone who had to kill the thing he loved most in this world to honor the One he loved most in any world. I have seen paintings where Judas must look into Jesus’ eyes to find the strength he needs to do what must be done. Is this any less possible than Judas “getting off” on killing Jesus the way a modern serial killer might?

Judas was a man only interested in himself.

In the play Jesus Christ Superstar (again), we see Judas as a man more interested in serving his people than saving Jesus—a man who could see that Jesus’ message of love was being ignored by people who made Jesus into a god in their own image, instead of what Jesus said He was. Judas saw things going bad and that, if he were not careful, when the hammer fell on Jesus it might hit him too. So he sold Jesus. I think that idea does not match the facts. Judas could have walked away if he wanted to be safe—off into the desert or back to fishing. Instead, he went out and hung himself.

Judas was taken over by the devil.

Can we tell the difference between the Devil and God? Do you know when something is good or bad? Is it bad when someone dies? What about the cancer patient? As one who on many occasions has been accused of being possessed or working for the Devil—and who on many occasions has feared that this charge might be right—I can tell you that I do not think we can tell the difference (if there is one), for God works in mysterious ways and we can only try to love God. The story of Judas is a great example. There are two points of view to be taken here:
1) The Devil wanted Jesus killed.
2) The Devil knew what would happen if Jesus was killed and did not want it to happen at all.

The Devil, seeing that Christ was converting people to His way of love—as might be seen on Palm Sunday—did not want this message to fill the earth. He wanted to stop it. The only way he could think of to stop it was to take Jesus’ own prediction (Matt. 26:2), so he had Judas betray Him—and thereby caused Easter and his own final fall.

On the other hand, the Devil may not have wanted Jesus crucified. After all, Pilate’s wife had a dream and tried to stop her husband from killing Christ (Matt. 27:19: “Have nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him”). If Christ had not died, the prophets would not have been fulfilled and there would be no Easter. Could God have sent the dream trying to stop the crucifixion—and God failed? Neither you nor I can tell, but I do not like to bet against God.

As you can see, Judas may have been working for the Devil—but it is just as likely that Judas was working for God. The Vulcans (see TV’s Star Trek) have a saying: if you want to judge someone, look not only at what they do but also at the results of their work. In Judas’ case, the result was our salvation—and I think that might be good. And most of all: who are we to judge, anyway?

So far we have limited ourselves to the life of Judas as seen through the Bible. I have tried to show you not so much the facts as how limited our knowledge is of what happened—and how foolish we are to judge Judas, as so many have. But it is said that the Devil can quote Scripture to suit his own purposes, and some have pointed out that I may be possessed by the Devil. I know there is little, if any, support for my ideas on Judas—but is there any support for the idea that we cannot judge Judas? In fact there is, and I did not have to go any farther than the communion service itself to find it. In the communion prayers, we see that Jesus was “betrayed” in one, “handed over to suffering and death” in another, and “glorified” in a third. Why choose “glorified”? It sounds like something good happened (why do you think they call it Good Friday?). The act of salvation came through the crucifixion, and that example required Judas to make it happen. In that act, he is almost as important—if not more so—than anyone else in the story.

Well, if there are any fundamentalists reading this, they are now going out to burn me in effigy. But I do think it is possible that, where the crucifixion is concerned, Judas was the key player—not Jesus. Jesus is God incarnate, part of the Trinity, and—as a priest I know pointed out about The Last Temptation of Christ—it is ridiculous to think that anything here could tempt Christ. He is above that, as a parent is above stealing pennies from their children. Jesus was above being hurt by a few little nails in the same way that you are above being hurt by the billions of parasites eating you constantly.

Then why the crucifixion—just a show? And if a show, to show what? That the dead could be raised? Jesus had already shown us that with Lazarus. To show us sacrifice? Well, yes—but I think the sacrifice was not that of Jesus on the cross, but of Judas, who loved Jesus more than anyone alive today can understand—letting Him be what He was and be crucified. How many parents today have the guts to let their child be what they were meant to be, even if that was a punk, or gay, or Judas? Judas made it possible for Jesus to be our Savior; his sacrifice was our saving—and maybe God’s as well.

If you really want to see how limited we are, ask why we are here. The question cannot be answered. Some would say that we are nothing more than entertainment for God—a sort of toy for the Lord with no purpose but to help God be a couch potato. Many others say that God is alone and made us to stop being alone. I think this is very close to the truth—but why make man? It is as if you or I were alone and made a moss to stop being lonely. Why not make something closer to His own level? And most of all (watch out), why have us evolve to what we are from lower life? Could it be that we are still evolving—and that we are evolving to become a “god” to help fill the loneliness of our God? If this is the case, then what happened in the Garden of Eden and at the Last Supper?

Could Eve have been told, “If you eat the fruit of knowledge you will die—but please eat it, for your God’s sake”? And could Judas have been asked to turn away from Palm Sunday in order to help God? As Meister Eckhart said, “God needs us a million times more than we need Him.” Could it be that what was missing from Christ was a human to say, “Yes, we will,” and is that what Judas said? Did Jesus save us—and Judas save God and His hopes for us?

As I have said, I am not trying to give you the final and perfect answer here, because I am trying to show you that humankind is not smart or evolved enough to know what “perfect,” or “good,” or “bad” means. All we can do is try to search out God and follow His will for us: to look into our own selves, find the divine spark there, and let it consume our self so that we can serve God.

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