Judas

Last Saturday night I was on a boat on the River Thames. It was a wedding reception for an old University friend and it was a darn good evening.

During the course of the evening I got into a discussion with a friend (let's call him Alf) about Judas and the newly discovered gospel thereof. A drunken discussion ensued - the sort you had at Uni and when you thought you were being terribly profound.

My theory was thus: I think Judas got a bad rap and was the victim of some extremely negative spin.

Theory 1, - Jesus knew that Judas would betray him because it was predestined. Therefore Judas had no choice in the matter whatsoever. If the gospels are right and that the devil entered into Judas at the last supper then it is the devil's work and not Judas'.

Theory 2, - Jesus knew that in order to fulfil prophecies and his teachings he had to be betrayed (a martyrs death) and then triumph over death (the resurrection). Without his death and resurrection Jesus could simply be dismissed as one of the many holy men or prophets that were around at the time attracting followers. Messianic cults were numerous although most were based around the violent overthrow of the Roman occupation.

Therefore Jesus had to have an accomplice to facilitate his martyrdom. Step forward Judas. Was Judas the only one Jesus could trust with this task? What about Peter? No, he showed his lack of spine by the triple denial. Judas on the other hand is the only disciple called a friend by Jesus.

As a Judean Judas had greater access to the Sanhedrin (Jewish high council) than a Galilean. Perhaps only he could convince the High Priest Caiaphas to send troops to arrest Jesus.

One final point - Jesus need not have died. He knew he was going to be betrayed, so why did he not 'out' Judas at the last supper and let the disciples deal with the traitor. why did he not flee as soon as he got wind of treachery? He could still have fled from the Garden of Gethsemene, why didn't he? Jesus knew he had to die. If his death was necessary then Judas was necessary for it to happen and he should not be damned for it. For only by Christ's death and resurrection are people saved (according to Christianity)- Jesus had to die and Judas helped it happen. But was he a traitor? We shall never know. But we do know that history is written by the winners and Judas was certainly not amongst those.