Four

I always find myself thinking of Judas this time of year. This doesn't make me different, it is holy week after all. Lots and lots of people are thinking about Judas. I've heard the story a hundred times since I was a kid, and the name "Judas" has become lodged in our culture as synonymous with betrayal. It was Judas' tip that led to Jesus' capture and ultimate death (and resurrection, if you believe that part). And so we villify Judas. We hold him in such contempt. We tell the ultimate story of Christianity in such an un-Christian way. To me, the way we have historically treated Judas encapuslates so much of what is wrong with Christianity.

Somehow, we manage to paint Jesus as the tragic figure despite the fact that he has divine powers, and we leave Judas, the weak and insecure one, to the wolves. Why do we focus so much on the murder of Jesus while completely neglecting, seeing it as only appropriate, the suicide of Judas. After all, when Jesus dies he knows God is on his side (except, perhaps for Matthew 47:26, but we mostly choose to ignore this point as well) while Judas surely feels that his soul is doomed to eternal damnation. Why would we treat Judas this way if Jesus compels us to consider the least powerful first? Why, at this critical juncture in the history of our faith, as we celebrate the one who gave us the message of love for everyone, do we lose sight of exactly that message? If this is the way the most important parts of the gospels are taught, is it any wonder that the criticism so often leveled at us, that we're hypocritical, often rings so true?