Rethinking Judas as the Bad Guy
Ancient text suggests a different motive for the greatest betrayal in history
The name Judas is synonymous with traitor, and maybe rightly so since he is the one who is said to have betrayed Jesus. That led to Jesus' crucifixion and death and to Judas hanging himself in remorse. A very sad story indeed.
But there is always more to the story than meets the eye. Judas is an essential part of the Easter story, yet he may be misunderstood. There are some other historical writings that could give a different picture of Judas.
There are some things that don’t make sense in the Biblical story when taken at its face value. But when Judas is understood in a different way, as a political zealot, it fits together much better. This does not mean the bible is wrong, it's just that it leaves some details unanswered.
What doesn't make sense?
Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, about a week's wages. If Judas was out for money the prize would have been much bigger. It is not reasonable to think Judas would have betrayed Jesus for some spending money.
The scriptures say Judas told them where Jesus would be. This part is understandable since there were all kinds of places to hide in and around Jerusalem. Still, Jesus was around a lot. He would not have been that hard to find.
Judas identifying Jesus when the soldiers come to arrest him is another curiosity. Jesus was a very public figure. He was in public every day and speaking boldly about the Kingdom of God. Once they knew his general location, they would have recognized him easily once they saw him.
But what if Judas thought by “betraying” Jesus, he could set the wheels in motion for Jesus to lead the revolution to overthrow Rome?
But this is where the story starts to get more interesting when we go beyond the literal face value. Judas betraying Jesus for chump change for no apparent reason makes no sense. But what if Judas thought by “betraying” Jesus, he could set the wheels in motion for Jesus to lead the revolution to overthrow Rome?
The background
The Jewish nation of Israel was under Roman rule and did not like it. There were scriptures that spoke of a Messiah who would conquer their oppressors and deliver them. Jesus was talking about the Kingdom of God. He did signs and wonders like healing the sick and bringing people back to life. It was not too much of a leap to start thinking this could be the promised Messiah.
For most people overthrowing Rome was the top priority. Sure there were spiritual issues, and religious aspects, but they wanted free from Rome. That is what their Messiah was supposed to do.
Judas was one of those people. His last name, Iscariot, is very similar to a word for a political party called the assassins. They were the terrorists of the day. They advocated violence and would have been thrilled for Jesus to start the war against Rome. They were itching to fight but knew they were terribly outmanned. They needed the hand of God to get involved, and they may have thought Jesus was that hand.
Rome didn’t care that much about your religion. If you kept the peace and kept the taxes coming in, they let the religious leaders stay in control.
But the popularity of Jesus put them in a tight spot. If the people decided Jesus was the Messiah, it would get back to Rome that a revolution was brewing. If they arrested Jesus, the people would revolt, and that would cause Rome to have to come and restore peace. In either scenario, the leaders would be tossed out and blamed by Rome.
This is where Judas enters the picture.
The religious leaders could not arrest Jesus to silence him because he was very popular. He was dangerous to them and they had to do something. But what could they do?
At the time the religious leaders had a thing called the Mishnah, which contained extra laws that were supposed to keep you from breaking the actual law. You were not supposed to work on the Sabbath, so you could not even do good things on the Sabbath.
Jesus comes along and heals people on the Sabbath and in the temple no less. He was thumbing his nose at the religious establishment.
There are many examples in the Bible where Jesus violates the tradition of the religious leaders, but he did not violate the actual law written in the scriptures. He was always in trouble with the establishment, and that added to his popularity with the people.
The Gospel of Judas
There is the Gospel of Judas, written not that long after all the other gospels were written. It is a gnostic gospel and was not accepted into the canon for various reasons. It was a bit controversial when it was translated in 2006.
That gospel of Judas paints Judas as betraying Jesus at Jesus’ request. Judas is still a bad guy, but it paints the betrayal as essentially a conspiracy to get Jesus arrested. He did what he thought Jesus wanted him to do. He thought as soon as Jesus was arrested the revolution would begin.
When Jesus declared himself King of Israel, the Romans would come after them. With God on their side, Rome would be destroyed in a few days, Jesus would be king of Isreal and all would be right with the world. The gospel of Judas does not say this, but something similar may have crossed his mind.
William Barclay an outstanding Scottish theologian, has suggested that Judas’s intention was really good; that he wanted to force the hand of the Lord Jesus; that he knew that he must die, and if he forced Jesus’ hand then he would display his power deliver himself from the Romans and establish his kingdom apart from a cross.
Laying the charge
Jesus and the disciples enter Jerusalem with all this buzzing in Judas' brain. There was a lot of excitement in the air. When Jesus arrived he was given a hero’s welcome by the crowd. It's pretty easy to see how Judas would have gotten all fired up about the revolution that was to come.
Soon the religious leaders found that Judas was willing to play ball. They saw a way to get out of the jam. If one of his own accused him, they could hand Jesus over to Rome and claim innocence.
Judas “made the charge,” that Jesus claimed to be God. This was blasphemy and punishable by death by religious law. They were not allowed to execute anyone by Rome, and why would Rome care if some obscure teacher made crazy claims?
It's not much of a leap to also call this insurrection against Rome and that is what the leadership tried to do. Judas may have exaggerated and made this claim as well. By Judas pressing charges, they got Rome to execute Jesus.
I can imagine Judas waiting in the wings. He was probably excited and waiting for Jesus to call down fire out of heaven any minute. His dreams were coming true. The revolution would soon begin, the Jewish nation would be restored, and of course, Judas would have a high position since he was the one who opened the door for Jesus.
But we all know that isn't what happened.
What Jesus’ death meant
Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. Judas was crushed. He wondered how this could have happened. The scriptures say he said, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” He knew things had gone horribly wrong and at least to some degree, he took responsibility.
He could not live with this so he committed suicide. Killing oneself is not a reasonable thing if you were just out for money, or had some other reason for betraying your leader. I think that because of the way Judas died, it can be assumed that Judas did not expect Jesus to be killed.
None of the disciples were expecting Jesus to rise from the dead three days later, and Judas didn’t live to see it happen.
All of the disciples had their own ideas about who Jesus was, and what would become of them. Jesus came to die on the cross and rise up from the grave as a payment for the sins of the world. That meant we are all forgiven by God. It was the most significant event in human history.
But Judas had politics on his mind. He was thinking of an earthly king, only of the material world. The other disciples may have had other ideas as well, but they all lived to see the risen Christ.
Meaning for us today
Even today people have their own ideas about what Jesus, or God, is supposed to do. They have their own ideas about what it all means. These ideas may or may not be from the Bible. They may or may not be true at all.
It’s easy to have your own agenda and start to think that is God’s agenda as well.