From: "silas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Jesus had surrounded himself with loyal and trusted disciples.
Including Judas. Church tradition to the contrary, there is nothing in the
Gospels to show that Jesus did not care deeply for Judas...in fact, since he
seems to have been the 'treasurer' of the group, one could say that Jesus
held him in higher regard than the other disciples (at least in respect of
Judas' business and financial acumen)...
> His 'triumphal' entry into Jerusalem was obviously stage managed and seems
> to have been done to create as much attention as possible.
And to conform to OT prophesy...
> Look at the reaction of Judas when handed the sop. "Must it be me Lord?" or
> words to that effect. "Yes, do what you must do and do it quickly". At which
> point Judas leaves the room and has been vilified for two thousand years.
It's hard at this point to adequately assess what exactly went down at this meal...
after all, all we have are accounts written decades after the event, and filtered
thru the sensibilities and prejudices not only of the original writers, but later
interpreters...
If indeed Jesus was setting up His own 'betrayal', it could be that He wanted to
keep everyone except Judas in the dark about just how much everything WAS
orchestrated...
Therefore He would speak circumspectly, so much so that almost all, if not all, of the
other disciples wouldn't catch the full meaning of what He was saying...all except
Judas, who was 'in' on it...
> Also, his subsequent actions seem to attest to his loyalty. After 'betraying
> ' Jesus and obtaining 30 pieces of silver, he promptly gives it back! Hardly
> the action of a traitorous mercenary. And then he apparently commits
> suicide.
IF he committed suicide, it would then imply that things didn't go down as they had
been planned, and Judas' was so overcome with grief that he decided to take his own
life...
BUT...some passages imply that Judas had been slashed open with a knife, before
'hanging himself'...obviously one DOESN'T hang oneself after being slashed open with
a knife, so there is an implication that perhaps Judas' death was NOT self-imposed...
If so, it then raises the question as to who would 'off' Judas? The remaining
disciples? Perhaps if they had, we could understand why they would...but can we
accept that these disciples of Christ would murder someone in cold blood that way?
Or would the 'perps' be some faction that had a vested interest in not having the
'real story' come out, and had a need to get rid of the one person who could reveal
the truth of the whole matter?
> And that kiss. Why? Would it not have been easier to point Jesus out "That's
> him over there in the grey robe" or something like that. I would have
> thought that the kiss was either from Judas to say "I have done as you asked
> Lord, may God forgive me.", or from Jesus "Thank you for doing the hardest
> thing that I have ever asked any man to do".
Perhaps. But again, it's hard to adequately assess this scene with the versions we
now have...and especially since it's been represented in art and in film and TV with
the Temple Guard standing close at hand...so that Judas is seen as an obvious
'betrayer' in front of the other disciples...
But what if the Guard were off a ways, perhaps hiding behind bushes or rocks...and
they see 12 men milling around. Who's the one they should grab? Judas, hiding with
the guard, and knowing that the scenario that Jesus has set up requires that Judas'
active participation not be revealed to the other disciples, tells the Guard "Listen,
I'll go up and give Jesus a kiss as I greet him...that way you'll know who to grab
later..."
And Judas then leaves the Guard, and reunites with the group of Jesus and the
disciples as if he was just returning from an errand...and gives Jesus that kiss.
Perhaps Judas and Jesus had agreed beforehand on the kiss as a certain unspoken
signal, perhaps a sign to let Jesus know that 'Everything is all set'...
And then some time goes by...perhaps only a few minutes, perhaps a half hour or
more...again, tradition has presented us with the scenario of the Guard and Judas
both arriving at the same time, but in fact there could have been a gap in time, as
the Guard assessed the best time to grab Jesus with a minimal amount of trouble...
But they finally do make their move, and grab Jesus...and a few disciples do draw
swords, but Jesus stops them from doing any harm (and from being harmed)...
>From the other disciples' point of view, Judas wouldn't have seemed to have been
involved in causing Jesus to be arrested...at the most, they may have thought that
Judas had been careless, and not realized he had been 'tailed' by the Temple Guard
to their 'hideout'...but there was nothing else in Judas' behavior that would have
caused them to believe that he had actually brought the Guard to that place...
> It is my contention, at present, that Judas, far from being the traitor of
> popular belief, was in fact a brave, loyal and compassionate hero.
I tend to agree.
> He did
> what he did knowing the likely consequences simply because he believed in
> Jesus and what he stood for.
Well, it's questionable if he really knew the final consequences, as the final
consequence was NOT the 'likely' consequence of his actions...
Because what Judas did was cause Jesus to be arrested by the TEMPLE Guard...the
worst consequences of Judas' actions would be that Jesus' would get a severe
beating, and probably be excommunicated...
But the Temple authorities had NO authority to extract a death penalty...only
Rome could do that. Even if the possibility of the Temple turning Jesus over
to Roman authority had been considered, in all liklihood it was thought that
the most that Rome would do would be to give Jesus a lashing, and perhaps
jail him for some time...perhaps Jesus saw what would really happen, but it's
doubtful if Judas foresaw the final consequence of his action being Jesus'
crucifixion...after all, crucifixion was a death penalty that only Rome could
impose, and then only for high crimes and misdemeanors against the Roman state,
not for one of many Jewish 'messiahs' and prophets then roaming the Judean
countryside...
June
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