Why Judas Iscariot is the best Christian
Apr 17, 2006
As we conclude celebrations to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us ask ourselves: Who is the worst man that ever lived in Christian history? Judas Iscariot! Why? He betrayed Jesus!! Such would probably be the answer from most Christians. Apart from Jesus’ tormenters who ultimately crucif
As we conclude celebrations to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us ask ourselves: Who is the worst man that ever lived in Christian history? Judas Iscariot! Why? He betrayed Jesus!! Such would probably be the answer from most Christians. Apart from Jesus’ tormenters who ultimately crucified him, Judas has been roundly held responsible as cause of the saviour’s death.
However, if I were a judge and Judas was brought before me, I would acquit and award him (Judas) the costs of the case. A critical look at the role played by Judas Iscariot in the torture and death of Jesus Christ reveals that Judas did not necessarily do a wrong thing.
Every Christian agrees that the death of Jesus Christ was primarily a good thing – the Church teaches that humanity was so wicked that it required an extraordinary sacrifice, and God provided it. We would not be celebrating Easter (Christ’s resurrection) if he had not died.
To think that Judas’s “betrayal†of Jesus was a mistake is to assume therefore that his suffering and death was equally needless and avoidable. It is also to portray Iscariot as a malicious and greedy person who would never have stopped at anything to earn a few pieces of silver – even if it required delivering his best friend to the murderers.
The National Geographic Society in Washington claims that Judas was actually the best friend of Jesus and turned him over to authorities only because Jesus asked him to. An alleged Gospel of Judas, said to have been disallowed by the early Church because it contradicted the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, has indeed opened debate about the level of Judas’s impiety. It suggests that Jesus shared with Judas secrets not known by the other disciples. In a key passage, Jesus compares Judas to the other disciples, saying, “You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.†This implies that by helping Jesus get rid of his flesh, Judas would help liberate the divine being within.
In the conventional gospels, it is still evident that Jesus understood that his suffering and death would come, not by human but heavenly design. Long before his crucifixion, he had told his disciples, “The son of man must suffer greatly … and be killed…†(Luke 9: 22). Peter once tried to persuade Jesus from believing that he would be killed, but Jesus rebuffed him: “You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does but as human beings do†(Matthew 16: 23).
To blame Judas Iscariot is surely to think “as human beings doâ€. Jesus Christ knew he would suffer in Jerusalem. It is wrong to imagine that he was cornered, overpowered and killed by mere humans. He was aware of the entire plot and would have avoided it if he wanted. He actually hints to Pilate that there he would have been heavenly intervention if he had not subjected himself to worldly authority (John 18: 36 – 37).
Centuries before Judas was born, a prophecy of the life and death of Jesus Christ was made: that he would be “spurned … pierced … crushed … harshly treated … oppressed and condemned … and cut off from the land of the living …†(Isaiah 53). A comment from the African Bible says: “This is a description of a sinless servant who by his voluntary suffering … saves. It is through self-sacrifice … that he achieves salvation.†The suffering was “voluntaryâ€, so Judas personally had nothing to do to prevent it. I think he participated only as God’s instrument, having committed all his time and life to Jesus. He acknowledged his mistake; he was remorseful to see Jesus truly dying.
Some scholars argue that by handing over Jesus, Judas was simply doing God’s will. Steven Patterson, a professor of the New Testament at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, has thus commented, “If his (Jesus’) betrayal was required for the events that followed to occur, isn’t he (Judas) more of a hero than a villain?†I strongly agree.
The writer is a teacher