Judas' betrayal happens in my reading today, John 13: 21-32. I think that Judas has seen a revival in the past few years - he's the bad boy of Christianity and everyone likes a bad boy. A character who is complex, a character who seems to get a rough eschatological deal and yet a character who betrays one of his best mates. On a purely human level I think that we should move beyond the pop theology of glamourising a betrayer and recognise that if this was one of our friends we'd be hurt by a basic human betrayal. On that level I don't like Judas.
But Judas also raises questions of choice, freewill and strangely in the reading today 'being possessed'. Were Judas' actions those of a free man or were they the actions of some possessed by the spirit of evil. The text suggests that evil enters him, which raise questions regarding how much he did betray Jesus or whether he was a mouth piece. His freewill gone as he became an empty vessel used by evil. On that level I feel sorry for Judas.
But maybe the polarity of the two is unhelpful. I make choices each day - some good some bad, some have a positive outcome, some do not. I also know that if I make bad decision after bad decisions I can get myself in a pit. A pit that there is no way out of - trapped by my own bad decisions I am no longer free, I have enslaved myself. Maybe Judas has enslaved himself, maybe he has made so many bad choices and not had the courage to hold-up his hands and say 'help'. Help, I'm drowning I need you to draw me out of my pit. Maybe...
There are many songs that I could have picked today. But I've gone for one by The Charlatans called 'Judas' (It's not about Tevez). The Charlatans were the first band that I saw many moons ago at Exeter University and since then I'll had a soft spot for them, so why not...
Searching for the very souls whove already been sold
Go on your way accordingly my son
I will privately accept you and together we will fly away
To another land
In the cold, cold eyes of Judas
Please help me
In my hour of weakness
I will secretly accept you and together we will fly away to another land
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