In Memory of Judas

As I prepared to preach last week from the John 20:19-31 passage, it occurred to me that we still have one scapegoat safely tucked away in our tradition. The gospels record Jesus greeting 10 of the remaining 11 disciples with "Peace be with you" and then finally catching up with Thomas a week later with the same message of peace. Peter receives his "feed my sheep" dialog of healing with Jesus, Thomas gets a special viewing of the scars of crucifixion, but Judas gets nothing; in the text, he's already hanged himself.  He emerges from the expose' of Jesus death and resurrection as the one unredeemed and unredeemable person of all time.  The more I thought about this, the more uncomfortable with it I became. The text clearly scapegoats him; John tells us he was a thief before betraying Jesus in addition to telling us that Jesus graced him with the sop immediately prior to his betrayal. Both John and Luke tell us that Satan had a part in Judas' behavior, only Matthew makes it clear that Judas was filled with remorse and tried to undo his acts by trying to return the 30 pieces of silver he had received from the officials.  All four gospels and Acts make mention of Judas as the one who betrayed Jesus, Acts giving us another grisly window on his death. When his voice is invoked, it is a voice of criticism toward Jesus.  Yet he was chosen by Jesus to be one of the inner circle of 12, and entrusted with their moneybag. I have been told by sincere Christians that Jesus knew from the beginning what was in Judas' heart and just included him so that he (Jesus) could fulfill his fathers will that he die on the cross for our sins. That makes Judas a sitting duck for the god of substitutionary atonement; in order for that god to get his will fulfilled, Judas is needed to do the very thing he did. That creates an odd logic in which Judas is almost as important as Jesus in the drama of the cross and our eventual salvation through it, a logic that requires that we be grateful to Judas. Of course we aren't; our tradition has made it abundantly clear that Judas was evil personified when he betrayed Jesus. For centuries, his is the one of 12 disciples names that few babies have ever received- at least not in memory of him. There are other Judases in scripture, but rarely do we hear about them or expect that one of them is the referent when we hear someone mention Judas.  The word has become shorthand for betrayer/double-crosser even in non-Christian circumstances.  Until we are able to remember Judas with the same love for our enemies that Jesus prescribed, until we are able to extend love and compassion to him in our story- and it is OUR story, his and yours and mine- then I fear we will be plagued by an undercurrent of permission to scapegoat.  The hangman's noose that Judas tied has become a loophole for all of us; we needn't forgive the truly evil act or person.

As I opened my computer to homepage headlines today, I was confronted by a row of 15 crosses memorializing the shooting deaths at Columbine High School 10 years ago.  The accompanying article made brief mention of the two shooters, both students at the time, describing them tersely in negative terms. There was no compassion or understanding; certainly nothing that resembled loving ones enemies was extended to them.  Like Judas, they, and many other similar shooters, killed themselves.  While the text of scripture at least records Judas' remorse, there is no such record for any of these modern day shooters.  Their suicides are seen as defiance, not remorse.  Somehow we have neglected the option of despair, something that might move us to compassion if we took it seriously.  I fear that as Christians, we unconsciously rely on the biblical model of Judas to allow ourselves this exception, this opportunity to vilify and scapegoat those who seem to be such naturals for the part.  This is not to say that their actions were anything other than violently evil. It is to say that if we truly take the gospel seriously we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of an exception to the law of love. I don't expect anyone to develop warm fuzzies for any of the perpetrators of mass shootings, nor do I think that it would ever be appropriate to try.  I do think that we need to find a neutral ground from which to not condemn and scapegoat them because to do so contributes to the cycle of violence and feeds it's next eruption. In this, perhaps Judas is helpful after all; at least in Matthew it is clear that his remorse is real.  If we cannot imagine a worse crime than betraying the Son of God, then Judas' remorse is very important. It is a toe-hold to the understanding that he was included in Jesus words from the cross, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do."  Surely those executing Jesus knew exactly what they were doing; they did not set out on a picnic and find themselves at a surprise execution.  They set out to crucify him and they did; when Jesus says they don't know what they're doing, he certainly doesn't mean it literally. His understanding, even in extremis, is that they have no clue as to the full context and meaning of their actions. Surely Judas is included in that prayer; handing Jesus over to the authorities who knew where to find him anyway can be no different than the actions of those who executed him. 

Although I can wish that scripture included a scene in which Judas was overtly forgiven and received into Jesus' company in eternity, I think we have an invitation to realize that implicit in Jesus' words from the cross and his last act toward Judas in the Gospel of John.  Bestowing the sop was customarily a gesture of honor and respect from the host to his guest. For Jesus to give it to Judas suggests an abiding love for him that supersedes the act of betrayal, especially since John makes it clear that Jesus knew what Judas was up to and made no effort to dissuade him.  We need to pay more attention to that act, and recognize it as Jesus practicing what he was preaching.  It does not excuse Judas' action nor make something evil into anything good.  It is also not an excuse for suggesting that God needed Judas to betray Jesus to fulfill the divine plan. The divine plan is for love to reign, and this scene at the last supper they shared is a window onto what that looks like.  The bottom line is: if Jesus loved Judas, who are we to refuse to do what Jesus did?

I know that this requires a reworking of our understanding of the story. It expands it beyond where we usually perceive its' boundaries.  It brings the kingdom of God closer, which is really good news for those  who have ever betrayed anyone.  That's pretty much all of us, even if we're just talking about interpersonal relationships. If we start talking about how we betray Jesus in our lives, we are quickly in deep water.....and isn't the forgiveness of Judas then a very important thing?   Our tradition, especially that based on substitutionary atonement models, has deprived us of something vital, and that lack eats away at our hope in the reality of the love and forgiveness of God. If Judas was not forgiven, if his remorse and suicide receive no recognition as repentance, then where do the rest of us stand?  Just because we haven't betrayed the Son of God to his death.....oh, wait- we do contribute to that....our fate is linked to Judas, and no amount of loop-holing will really get us around that.  Understanding the gospel of Jesus as the gospel of peace means understanding that all scapegoating is violent, destructive, and evil, even when it's directed at Judas. If we're really going to celebrate Easter in it's fullest dimensions of meaning, we need to remember Judas too.  We preach that there is no corner of humanity that Jesus did not redeem; that would include Judas and all of ourselves that is like him.  Doing so openly and with compassion has the power to eliminate the loophole through which we squeeze our scapegoats; there would be no honest way out for us if we brought Judas in.  If we don't eliminate our traditional permission to scapegoat Judas, then we  contribute to the vortex of violence out of which Columbine and similarly violent evils come.  Let's put this mornings headlines into the category of "no more of this"; proclaim Judas redeemed.

nancy hitt.

Comments

[michael hardin]

Ooohhhh..I have often wondered about Judas and his redemption. I appreciate your reframing of the story, this is definitely food for thought....

[Scott Hutchinson]

Thanks, Nancy. I have little doubt that had he not taken his own life, Judas would have been an apostle offering the most powerful of testimonies. More than once, I have imagined the joy I might feel if privileged to serve as pastor of St. Judas United Church of Christ!

[nancy hitt]

In truth, Scott, we are all privileged to serve there every day.....