Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 70; Hebrews 12:1-3; John 13:21-32
Wednesday of Holy Week by Rev. Jerry Eve
Today is known in the liturgical calendar as Spy Wednesday. It’s the day on which we traditionally consider the role Judas Iscariot played in Christ’s passion.
Our Gospel reading for today is just one of a number of references in Scripture to Judas, the earliest of which would be the familiar allusion we have from the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion in 1 Corinthians 11:23: “on the night he was betrayed.”
As to actual references, however (and this may not be exhaustive), as we work our way through the Bible, we have:
1) Judas is referred to as a traitor (Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:19, Luke 6:16, John 6:71 and John 12:4)
2) Satan having entered into him, Judas goes to the chief priests who promise to give him money. From then on he’s looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them without the people knowing about it (Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 14:10-11 and Luke 22:3-6)
3) When Jesus is anointed by Mary with expensive perfume, Judas asks, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor? He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would help himself from it (John 12:4-5)
4) At the Last Supper, Judas asks, “Surely, Teacher, you don’t mean me?” Since Judas was in charge of the money bag, some of the disciples thought that Jesus had told him to go and buy what they needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor (Matthew 26:25, John 13:2 and John 26-31)
5) In the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas arrives with a large crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests and the elders . . . Judas went straight to Jesus and said, “Peace be with you, Teacher,” and kissed him (Matthew 26:47-49, Mark 14:43-45, Luke 22:47-48 and John 18:2-5)
6) When Judas learns that Jesus has been condemned, he repents and takes back the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders . . . Judas threw the coins down in the Temple and left; he then went off and hanged himself (Matthew 27:3-5)
7) With the money that Judas got for his evil act he bought a field, where he fell to his death; he burst open and all his insides spilled out (Acts 1:16-18)
With the different accounts we have then, we can see that there are some contradictions. Why, for example, would a known thief be put in charge of the money bag? How did Judas die? It is reasonably clear, however, that the New Testament hasn’t given him the best Press. Others, since then, have been both kinder and crueller in their depiction of him.
Before we look at the two extremes, however, there is a view among a minority of scholars that Judas, as a character, is fictional and was ‘constructed’ after the rift with Judaism in the First Century. As such, proponents of this view claim that it’s a ‘story’ that has unhelpfully fuelled antisemitism.
My own view, based on the possibility that Iscariot might have meant ‘dagger man’ (or assassin), is that Judas actually had a heart for the poor, and hoped that Jesus would lead them in an armed struggle against Rome. When it became clear that Jesus wasn’t going to do this, his frustration with Jesus – having spent three years with him for seemingly nothing – boiled over, and this is when he went to the chief priests.
As to the two extremes, the first is Dante’s depiction of Judas, in the heart of hell, his head being chewed by the most ferocious of Satan’s three mouths. This translation is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching
A sinner, in the manner of a brake,
So that he three of them tormented thus.
To him in front the biting was as naught
Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine
Utterly stripped of all the skin remained.
"That soul up there which has the greatest pain,"
The Master said, "is Judas Iscariot;
With head inside, he plies his legs without.
The second is from Nikos Kazantzakis’ 1955 novel, ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’. Sorry, but I don’t know who translated this from the Greek:
“You will, Judas, my brother. God will give you the strength, as much as you lack, because it is necessary—it is necessary for me to be killed and for you to betray me. We two must save the world. Help me."
Judas bowed his head. After a moment he asked, "If you had to betray your master, would you do it?"
Jesus reflected for a long time. Finally he said, "No, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to. That is why God pitied me and gave me the easier task: to be crucified.”
Let us pray:
God,
it’s easy to blame others, and it has been easy for us,
as Christ’s disciples, to ‘use’ Judas as a scapegoat.
And at this time, it’s all too easy for people to place blame
for what is happening on anything from
specific countries to specific people;
from global activity to
what our neighbours are (or are not) doing.
So help us always, as we always try to do our best
to be your disciples, to remember those of your sayings
that teach us by telling us,
Do not judge,
Vengeance is mine, and
Take the log out of your own eye first,
Amen.
