Thoughts on Judas

This week, an English translation of the recently discovered Gospel of Judas was made public for the first time. The document was found in Egypt, in a Coptic translation made around 300 A.D., about 100 years or so later than the original Greek version is believed to have been written. It is the only extant copy of this text, which has been assumed to exist based upon references to it in the writings of the second-century Bishop Irenaeus, who played the most prominent role in the early Christian church in deciding which texts about the life of Christ could be considered genuine and which heretical.

The document, bound in leather and written on papyrus, is damaged in places and missing some chunks of the text, but the overall significance appears to be that, in this version, Judas was a favored disciple of Christ, to whom was revealed certain secrets about the nature of heaven, the origin of the world, the end of time, and the human soul. Most shockingly, the gospel seems to suggest that Judas’ “betrayal” was actually done at Jesus’ request for the furthering of the divine plan.

I first began to consider Judas and his role in the passion when I was a teenager, after I came across that great theological treatise, Jesus Christ Superstar. To this day, I wonder about the relationship between the “Divine Plan” and free will, and to what extent each limits the other. I used to lean more toward a pre-ordained vision of everything, but the more I read of theology, the more I understand the importance of free will in relationship to true faith.

Still, the passion brings up questions that are difficult for my simple brain to grapple with. Obviously, it is through Christ’s death and resurrection that we are redeemed, and the four New Testament Gospels repeatedly show Christ foreshadowing and hinting at his own end, thereby suggesting the inevitable fulfillment of ancient prophecy. But where does Judas fit into this? Was he part of the plan? Did he betray Christ of his own free will? Or was he compelled by the Spirit? If Jesus needed to be betrayed in order to be killed, then do we owe Judas credit or scorn?

The New Testament is pretty clear. Before His death, Matthew records Jesus saying, “The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Is it I, Master?" He said to him, "You have said so." Matthew then says Judas took his thirty pieces of silver and threw them down in the temple, and then went and hanged himself. The Book of Acts says Judas took the money and “bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.” (Another major obstacle for people who claim belief in the literal veracity of Scripture.)

I make no pretense whatsoever at theological expertise, so I won’t attempt any analysis of what the Judas gospel might mean or whether it sheds any authoritative light on Christ. At one point Jesus refers to “Your god who is within you,” which echoes Luke 17:21, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” which also seems to share some relationship to the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, which says, “Rather, the Kingdom of God is inside you and outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are the children of the living Father.”

The Christ of the Judas gospel laughs a lot, which would I like, since Jesus is often depicted as rather dour, sad and serious, and I like to think he was maybe (at least sometimes) a little more fun than that, except that here He seems to be specifically laughing at his disciples, mocking them for their lack of understanding, and interpreting part of a vision they shared by saying, “The cattle you have seen brought for sacrifice are the many people you lead astray.”

The Judas Gospel doesn’t appear to be very gay friendly, either, as Christ seems to foretell a priesthood of false prophets made up of “slayers of children, and…those who sleep with men, and those who abstain, and the rest of the people of pollution and lawlessness and error.” There’s some other weird stuff: Judas says Jesus is “from the immortal realm of Barbelo,” which is Greek for “forethought,” and Jesus talks about a lot of different angels and “corruptible Sophia.” Is Sophia a person? In Greek “sophia” means “wisdom,” and in the Gnostic tradition, specifically “the final and lowest emanation of God.” I’m not going to pretend I understand any of that.

Is there anything of definitive value in the Gospel of Judas for Christians to learn?

Yes, indirectly, by its mere existence.

I recall during the confirmation process of Bishop V. Gene Robinson a member of the opposition balked at the voting process by saying, “The Bible wasn’t decided by committee.”

Well, yes, in fact, it was. We really don’t “know” anything about the historical Jesus; what we do know for certain is that in the early days of Christianity there were dozens of “gospel” texts, some with competing, contradictory ideas about who Jesus was and what He said. The four gospels which found their way into the New Testament were the ones favored by Irenaeus and approved by the Nicene Council in 325 A.D., but the Bible’s present contents and the order in which they appear were not ratified until the 1500’s. Many, many, many texts were read and rejected…voted on by committee.

I think it’s defensible to say that the spirit of the Lord was at work in these committees, guiding their votes to select which texts would survive and form the basis of His church, in the same manner Catholics believe voting for Pope reveals God’s own choice. It is irresponsible, however, to ignore that the Bible is a collection of diverse historical writings assembled by groups of men throughout history, many centuries removed from the events described therein.