Faith of Judas

[Thomas Green]

During Lent, with Holy Week coming closer and closer by the minute, I
always find myself reflecting on the cast of characters that accompany
Jesus to the cross and to his resurrection. Every year, the disciple
that I return to and reflect the most on is Judas.

Judas, in the Christian culture, is the ultimate villain. His kiss on
Jesus’ cheek sealed the deal of the crucifixion, leading to the Son of
God suffering a painful death. What I am constantly reminded of with
Judas, is that his role was absolutely necessary for the new covenant.
Without Judas, that chain of events would not have led our Christ to
die on the cross for our sins. That’s a really big hinge on salvation.
In Lenten programs during my Jr. High and High School years, we would
do a reflection on the gospel that would ultimately lead to a Lenten
program of a dramatic representation of Holy Week. Every year I played
Judas. Every year I looked at his acts and tried to see why someone
would do what he did. No matter what the theory, I saw Judas as a
tragic hero rather than a villain. Some questions that would always
crop up in my mind were:

•Did Judas really know the outcome of his actions?
•What if Judas expected Jesus to save himself on the cross to prove
that he was the Messiah?
•Could Judas have been the closest to Jesus? That last question I keep
thinking on, because, if I had to be betrayed for the benefit of the
whole world, I wouldn’t want just anyone to bear that action, but a
close and trusted friend.
It’s really easy to just make a villain out of Judas. Like with most
of Christianity, I don’t think that the easy way is the way we should
proceed with Judas’ acts. I think it is important to try and put
ourselves in Judas’ shoes. I know that there have been times when I
have betrayed friends. I know there have been times when I have
betrayed my own trust in God and the Holy Spirit to work in my life.
How is that any different than Judas’ story? Is it that we make him to
be a villain to separate ourselves from thinking that there are things
that we do that might be similar? Why is it that we easily relate to
and forgive Peter for saving his own skin by denying that he knows
Jesus and keep a grudge against Judas for essentially doing a similar
awful thing?

If we are to fully live into forgiving others, we should begin by
forgiving Judas. Maybe he knew exactly what would happen and maybe
not, but his actions led to the fulfillment of the new covenant and
for that we should be grateful.