Judas Iscariot

According to the Church calendar, this week is called “Passion Week,” or “Holy Week,” which began Palm Sunday, Jesus’s “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-9).

I recently heard a song being sung over Sirius XM on the Enlighten Station which caters to Gospel Country Music.  The song title was called “Judas,” and sung by Joseph Habedank.  I was struck by the chorus:

If He could love a traitor
A liar and a faker
If He could break the bread and share the wine
If the humble-hearted Savior
Could wash the feet of His betrayer
Then surely Hе could love a heart like minе

This song brought back to mind a few thoughts about Judas Iscariot about which I still contemplate.  I first heard about Judas from a Sunday school teacher of the Chapel I went to back when I was in high school.  The teacher said that Judas Iscariot would not be in heaven for betraying Jesus.  The Sunday school teacher’s comment did not quite settle with me but I did not question any further.  I turned to the narratives about Judas in the Bible in the Gospel accounts.  Judas was one of the twelve chosen by Jesus to be one of his disciples.  Judas was a first hand witness of the preaching of Jesus and the miracle healings Jesus did.  Judas realized that having Jesus put to death was not what he anticipated and he tried to make things right (Matthew 26:14-16; 27:3-5).  Out of regret, being responsible for condemning “innocent blood,” Judas hung himself because he concluded there was no way out.  Jesus was now on his way to be crucified.

Thoughts about Judas were placed temporarily in the back of my mind until I discovered a book written by Taylor Caldwell and Jess Stearn; I Judas.  After reading this book, I began to think about Judas Iscariot who, in my opinion, was not really as bad as the Church made him out to be.  No, I am not going “off the wall” here.  I am looking at Judas from a human perspective and like a social worker who is a born again, saved by faith believer, I do raise some concerns that need clarification.

1.      Judas did I not understand who Jesus really was.  Judas was a member of a group called the Zealots; a member of a Jewish sect that aimed for Jewish theocracy and resisted Roman rule; waiting for a leader, the Messiah who would lead the people out from Roman rule.  Judas saw Jesus as “that Messiah” who would finally free Israel.

2.      The Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday), Judas hoped that this was the time the Roman rule would end.  Judas heard the people shout, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”  Surely, Judas must have known the passage in Deuteronomy, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, of thy brethren, like unto me” (18:15-18) and thought, this was the time but nothing happened.

3.      Judas must have decided to force Jesus to take action to overthrow Roman rule.  Was this not why the “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem?  Jesus had the “power” to do so, his miracle of healing, raising the dead, feeding over 5,000 people, calming the storm, etc.  So Judas went to betray Jesus, push him into action only to see Jesus condemned to die; innocent blood.

Here is what I leave you to think about this “Holy Week,” right before Resurrection Sunday, Easter.

David writes in Psalm 41:9 “Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me” (NIV)

The writer of Matthew 10 lists the names of the 12 disciples Jesus chose and makes a comment when mentioning Judas Iscariot, “who also betrayed him,” which tells me was Judas not forgiven?”  Can we forgive Judas?  What Jesus is to have said in Matthew 26:24, “woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.  It had been good for that man if he had not been born.”  I cannot image Jesus saying such a thing because it would seem that to betray Jesus was Judas’s purpose.  Sounds cruel, doesn’t it?

Could Judas have been forgiven?  Could he have been spared, saved?  I would like to think so had anyone went to seek him out to talk to him, explain to him that his actions was prophesied, that it was meant to be; it was to fulfill God’s plan – salvation.  Judas was alone with his feelings of guilt, remorse and regret; he was seeking forgiveness but who would give this to him.  Even if Jesus did say, “good for that man if he had not been born,” the words he heard only added to Judas’s only conclusion, he hung himself.

Why did not Jesus say, “Father, forgive Judas, for he knows not what he does?”  Judas only betrayed; but the rest, crucified Jesus.

Judas Iscariot – I forgive you!


https://youtu.be/gELVzcqpqyM




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