Judas Iscariot: Good guy vs. bad guy?

Good guy

1 of 37

by Paul Schingle

• 

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

Ever since I was a little kid I always thought that Judas got kind of a raw deal. I don't really know that Judas was necessarily a good guy, but I write for this side because I definitely don't believe that he's a bad guy. If the mythology is true, then Jesus had to die on the cross "for our sins." If you read the interactions during the last supper, it fell on Judas to betray Jesus. If you're a fatalist-in other words you believe the whole thing was played out the way God intended, then how can you blame Judas for betraying Jesus? He was just doing his job-as God intended. If Judas is a bad guy, then God is a bad guy.

Personally, I am not a fatalist and I don't necessarily believe in the whole mythology of the crucifixion. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the person we call Jesus was crucified. I just don't know that the whole last supper, passion play thing went down exactly the way most people believe. My own personal belief is that Jesus was a poor guy who preached some pretty noble concepts. He got a lot of people to questioning things and viewing the world in a different light. The overwhelming majority of Jews in Israel were miserable under Roman rule. But, the Pharissees and the Saducees had it pretty cushy. They needed to get rid of Jesus (and others who got the masses to thinking). Once murdered, people who followed Jesus made a martyr out of him. Hell, they made a God out of him. That, of course, is only my opinion. The rest of this article will focus on the "what if." From here forward, we will act under the assumption that the biblical (new testament) myth is fact.

The story in the Bible goes that Jesus was sent here to save mankind. He was the messiah. He was the son of God and, in a weird dichotomy, was also God on earth. He had but one job and that was to die for man's sins. This was the scene in the secular world when Jesus lived and died. What we now call Israel (or Palestine) was a largely Jewish settlement in Asia Minor. The Roman Empire had expanded and Israel was actually occupied-under Roman rule. As a people, the Jews were essentially enslaved. The Romans had a governor-Pontius Pilate to oversee Israel. Obviously, with a large population under slave rule, Pilate couldn't govern alone. Yes, there were Roman soldiers, as well, but the Romans had to enlist the services of some of the locals in order to keep the peace. This is where the High Priests (Pharissees and Saducees) came in.

The High Priests were essentially Jewish leaders who were allowed to live the high life in exchange for assisting the Romans in keeping the masses from revolting. Yes, the High Priests hated Rome as much as the rest of the Jews, but if they could live comfortably, they were willing to sacrifice the happiness of the rest of the country. There was unrest, however. A rather vocal group wanted the Romans to go home and go home now. They were the Zealots. One of their minions was actually one of Jesus twelve chosen (Simon the Zealot, to distinguish from Simon Peter-the first pope). So, that was the political scene at the time.

But, Jesus wasn't interested in politics. To Jesus' mind whether or not Rome ruled Israel was irrelevant. Man's destiny was not to gain wealth on earth but to earn the riches all men deserve in Heaven. He preached of peace and love. Of avoiding judgment of others. Of the meek inheriting the earth. He preached of all mankind loving one another and, in so doing, honoring God. Unfortunately, people like the Zealots only heard what they wanted to hear. They were hearing Jesus say that Israel was to come to glory and they were taking it to mean the secular Israel of the world while Jesus was speaking symbolically of an afterlife. But, because the Zealots were hearing things their way, talk of unrest and revolution followed shortly. The High Priests couldn't have it, as their happy existence would come to an end. This was the secular situation.

On the spiritual side, Jesus had to be crucified in order for the prophecies of the old testament to come true. With the stage set as it was, getting the High Priests to want him killed was easy. Jesus was a trouble maker. The Romans didn't much care about Jesus one way or another. Sure, he spoke of magical, mysitcal things like Heaven, but was mostly harmless. The high priests needed Jesus dead, but couldn't execute him under Jewish law. They had to catch Jesus alone, or with few followers, in order to make his arrest go smoothly. If he were arrested in front of a large number of followers, there could be a bloodbath. This is where Judas came in. He could give the High Priests a good idea of when they could catch Jesus largely unguarded. And, this is what he did. Because of this, he's thought of as a betrayer.

But, hold on. Was this not part of God's plan all along? Didn't Jesus, knowing in advance of his demise, tell his disciples that the bread and wine they were eating at the last supper were (symbolically) his body and blood? The story is Jesus had to die for our sins. This never would have been possible without the betrayal. Therefore, Judas was merely doing God's bidding. He did what he had to do-for Jesus' sake, for God's sake and for the sake of all humanity. Any other viewpoint is contrary to God's will-assuming you believe the mythology.

Judas Iscariot: Good guy vs, bad guy? Again, I don't know that Judas was necessarily a great guy, but he did what God wanted him to do, so there's no way to call him a bad guy. Calling Judas bad is tantamount to calling god bad.

Learn more about this author, Paul Schingle.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.