…in the outer…

So they are going to expose the discovery of an ancient document that contains allegedly new insights to why Judas Iscariot did what he did: betray Jesus. Since the news broke about this project and the upcoming National Geographic program on the Gospel of Judas, my site has been a popular hit to web-searches.

My previous post, Was Judas Misunderstood? seems to be a popular destination for searchers. In that post, I commented on a report, since discredited as unfounded, that moves were afoot by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to revise public opinion on Judas. This initiative was supposedly made to coincide with the now publicly known new plans to publish the “discovery”.

However, the discovery of this gospel is not by any means new. It has been known to scholars for some thirty years. As I explored briefly in my follow up post, Can We Learn Anything From Judas, the issue is not whether this “lost gospel” supplants the narratives of Scriptures, because it does not. The issue is how this document challenges our own conceptions about the person Judas, and more generally about our ideas of failure, weakness, evil and duplicity. For whatever Judas’ motivations, whether he acted alone, or whether he was in cahoots with his Master, what he did is still viewed as a dastardly act. Everyone seems to concentrate on the vileness of his act of betrayal: he turned his Master in to those who tortured and killed Him for a bag of silver!

But the story of Judas is not merely the story about the other person. It does not merely highlight the black sheep among the good. In other words, there is a tendency for us to read into this story and view Judas as someone who knew better, and yet did the incomprehensible. It is easy for us to assume that given the same circumstances that we will not fall as he did. We need to view the story of Judas in the same way as we view the story of Peter, or the story of Thomas, or the story of Moses, or the story of David, or the story of Paul, and a host of other Biblical characters. In other words, it is the story of mere human beings. It is the story of us. The Biblical narratives are filled with stories of flawed individuals, of anti-heroes.

This reminds me of a story I heard years ago from Professor Howard Hendricks of Dallas Theological Seminary. He was giving a lecture to a group of us about leadership, and in making one of his points, he said, once a student of his came to him and said,

“Prof, I have a problem. Why did Jesus who knew everything, chose Judas?”

“I have a bigger problem,” replied the Prof.

“What is that?”

“Why did he choose you? Why did he choose me?”

If we see the story of Judas not just as a story of abject failure, and if we view Judas not just as an incompetent reprobate, then we can see beyond all the fanfare and appreciate the fact that Jesus chose him in grace. Just as He chose Peter, or John and Andrew. All of whom displayed their flaws in at one time or other, some even blatantly and repeatedly. Yet, they were all chosen to spend time with the Master as intimate friends. If we then bring the focus back to you and me, we gotta ask like the professor did, “Why did Jesus ever choose me?” If He knew everything, why did He waste his time on me? And, if we are really honest, we need to frame the question as, “Why didn’t He see me for the devil that I really am?”

Then, we realize that He does! And, we can then fully appreciate that this same Jesus is the patient (I like versions of the Scriptures that say, “long suffering”) Savior and Lord who chooses to pour out His grace, mercy and blessing on those who deserve the least. We then can fathom a little how great and how unrelenting his love is for each one of us. For the story of us is the story of amazing grace. It is the story of fallibility overcome by incomprehensible grace.

If you are interested to read further on this topic, my recommendation is to seek out the book, The Gospel of Judas: Is There a Limit to God’s Forgiveness? by Ray S. Anderson. As you can see this book is not a new fad, but Professor Anderson, a well respected evangelical scholar from Fuller Theological Seminary has been studying this topic and writing on it for over ten years. One of his newer works on this issue is entitled, Jesus and Judas. In both of these works, you will see a well balanced treatment of the topics I have highlighted: the vastness of God’s grace, mercy and love as shown in Jesus’ treatment of Judas.

Let this Good Friday and Easter season be a season we renew our vision of who God is, and what His grace and mercy mean to each one of us and let us bow in awe of His deep love for us. Love that conquers all. Love that heals all. Love that forgives all.

Technorati Tags: Judas Iscariot, Jesus, National Geographic, Judas, black sheep, grace, mercy, Good Friday, Easter, Love

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 8th, 2006 at 10:31 am and is filed under Reflections. Subscribe to RSS: RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Email This Article Or Print This Article