Judas

Our clerestory windows omit one of the disciples, Judas. This is for both practical and spiritual reasons. The practical reason is that our bell tower is attached to the sanctuary at the place where a twelfth window would be mounted. Because of this, only eleven windows have been installed. The spiritual reason is that as the disciple who betrayed Jesus, Judas has been the subject of much scorn and hatred over the centuries. He was the natural choice when one of the disciples needed to be omitted.

(Editor’s Note: To be completely honest, I would have liked to have done what our church did when it installed the windows and just skip Judas. Because this series of articles hasn’t just explained the meaning of the symbols on the windows but has also examined all of the rest of the disciples as people, I couldn’t take the easy way out.)

What do we know about Judas the man? First, the name Judas is the Greek form of Judah (Hebrew meaning "praised"), a name found often in both the Old and New Testaments. This Judas was usually associated with the surname Iscariot, traditionally translated from Hebrew to mean "a man of Kerioth", which was a city of Judah. This makes Judas the only one of the twelve who was not a Galilean. Like the others, he was called by Jesus to be a disciple. He also appeared to be a trusted man among the disciples, as some of the Gospels tell us that he kept the purse which held the group’s money.

We know even less about Judas’ life as a disciple. Because the Gospels were written after Jesus’ betrayal and death, no mention of him is made in them without labeling him as the one who would betray him. They certainly didn’t waste any effort extolling his virtues or listing his accomplishments. More than likely, he spread the teachings of Jesus and healed people just like the other eleven disciples.

It is not until the betrayal at the end of Jesus’ ministry that Judas becomes a major figure in the narrative. Tradition condemns Judas as a traitor who sold out his master for a few pieces of silver. But was it really that simple? Did Judas believe that because of his betrayal Jesus would finally have to rise up and overpower the Roman authorities? Certain messianic beliefs could have led him to believe this. Did he think that the arrest would finally make the people overthrow the government, set Jesus free, and place Him upon the throne? At the very least, if he truly believed in the power of Jesus, he didn’t expect these weak humans to be able to kill Him. Did he know that Jesus’ death was necessary for the fulfillment of the kingdom? Jesus did, and knew that Judas was the one who would betray him. Was the betrayal not even his decision, but merely his fulfillment of God’s plan for the world? Just as he was called to be a disciple, might Judas have also been called to be a betrayer? This would certainly seem to be a possibility.

There are just so many unanswered questions. Rather than examine these questions, tradition decided to hide from its responsibility and either call Judas evil or blame his actions on Satan. That’s the lesson we can learn from Judas–in all spiritual matters, distrust easy answers. Don’t write off Judas so quickly. Study, learn, read the scriptures, and pray for understanding. In the end, you may decide to also condemn Judas as a worthless traitor, but you might also come to better know the man he followed.

Brandon Gilliam