Judas Iscariot: A Victim of Divine Will?

(This is my original article published on www.sayitaloud.com)

Was there a holy conspiracy behind Judas Escariot's betrayal of Jesus that paved the way for the fulfillment of a divine will?

First, I would like to clarify that I am neither an Atheist nor a Satanist. I am a Christian of Catholic orientation (not necessarily that of a Roman Catholic Church, but a Catholic church Independent from Vatican - the so-called Iglesia Filipina Independiente, a break away church from Rome that sprang up at the height of Philippine revolution against Spain. The Philippines was under the Spanish rule for three centuries.)

But just like you, regardless of the diversity of faith and religious fundamentals of which we submit ourselves upon, you may also have this inkling of getting deeper behind what has been kept understated both by history and by theological scripts, and in this case, the tale of Judas' betrayal of Jesus.

WHO IS JUDAS ISCARIOT?

Judas Iscariot, son of Simon Iscariot, was a biblical character in the New Testament who was depicted to have been consumed by greed and evil. He was one of the 12 original disciples of Jesus. He was also the keeper of the money bag. His name has been associated with the "Gospel of Judas" that exists in an early fourth century Coptic text. To quote the Catholic Encyclopedia, the name Judas (Ioudas) is the Greek form of Judah (Hebrew "praised"), a proper name frequently found both in the Old and the New Testament. The fact-archive.com says that what "Iscariot" signifies is unclear, other than its Greek suffix -otes, like English "-ite" or "-ian". In the other, "Iscariot" is considered to be a transformation of the Latin sicarius, or "dagger-man". The Sicarii were a cadre of assassins among Jewish rebels intent on driving the Romans out of Judea.

Judas died on April AD 29-33 by hanging himself on a tree, although there were other variations on the account of his death.

He conspired with the chief priests of the temple who wanted to kill Jesus in exchange of the thirty pieces of silver. But only few was stated about him in the bible that describes his spiritual condition, except only in John 6:64: "⁶⁴But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. ⁶⁵And he said. Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. ⁶⁶From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. ⁶⁷Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? ⁶⁸Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. ⁷⁰Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? ⁷¹He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

More references that speak about Judas could be found in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 22, and in John Chapter 13, the event which narrates the last supper where Judas was revealed to betray Jesus. But it also on that occasion where Jesus had hinted on Judas as a disciple he loved.

In John 13:21-28, it says: ²¹When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
²²The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
²³One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus;
²⁴so Simon Peter beckoned to him and said, "Tell us who it is of whom he speaks."
²⁵So lying thus, close to the breast of Jesus, he said to him, "Lord, who is it?"
²⁶Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."

Jesus, despite knowing Judas being evil among the twelve of His disciples, had kept him still until that fateful night where He was delivered by him into the hands of the Roman soldiers. That sudden shift of allegiance made by Judas was a gross violation of trust to the man who loved and taught him about salvation, that is, from a point of view of an average person. Least we know that it was thru that way that what had been prophesized would come to pass. While he might have not known himself to be the one who would betray Jesus, although He warned his disciples that He would suffer and die. And that one of them would carry it out against Him, as what He told them during the last supper.

PREDESTINED?

Jesus knew all along that one day soon He would be betrayed by one of His disciples. He talked about it on several occasions, even before they set out to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Passover, but never made mention of Judas as the would-be perpetrator. This foreknowledge that foretold Jesus of a coming betrayal would lead to a question that Judas' act wasn't achieved out of his own free will at all, but instead was imposed upon him for all these things to be accomplished as told by the scriptures - the atonement that had to be put into effect for God's love of humanity, putting altogether the consummation of betrayal, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, in an effort to contradict this theory about Judas having acted not on his free will, it would have been hard to reconcile how the events could have turned out had he not.

For example, if Judas were not acting on his free will, notwithstanding the fact that Satan had corrupted his heart (as what had been written in John 13:27: ²⁷Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."), he could have had opted a different timing, or a different scenario upon which he would deliver the plot. Or, at worse, Jesus would never know at all He would be betrayed by him - which is an outright contradiction to the word of God - since it was God's plan that all these things should come to pass.

But if it were not him acting on his own, was it instead the will of God that was on the works, thus allowing Satan to enter into Judas so that His will be done? To answer this, we ask yet another question, Does everything in life, regardless of the results, a will of God? Or, which comes first, the will of God before yours, or the other way around? Can your own will triumph over that of God's? Or, Can the will of an evil rule supreme than that of God? Or, can it be that our own will is much more independent - just like our individual self having its own entity, but could at the same time be subjected to outside influence, a whisper of good or evil.

If it were the case, could it be that Judas act was more of a personal thing, inspired by divine intervention so as to coincide with God's appointed time that a Son of Man would be persecuted, captured, and put into trial and subsequently be hanged on the cross? What if we say it was an evil-inspired act on the part of Judas? Did God actually make use of His supreme power commanding the devil to enter into Judas' heart so that all these things would come into being? Or was it purely an action authored by the devil alone, but in turn benefited Jesus? However, to theorize that God have had nothing to do with is like depriving Jesus His ultimate chance for the whole world to see that indeed He is God. It was a divine plan, and it would be a grave sin to assert God has nothing to do with it, to say the least.

COLLABORATOR OF A DIVINE WILL?

Prior to the discovery of the "Gospel of Judas" - a Gnostic scripture known to have existed dating back to the 2^nd century A.D., which was found in 1970's in one of the caves in Upper Egypt, some skeptics raised questions on how the Bible deals with the account of Judas in relation to his change of allegiance that finally led to the crucifixion of Jesus. On the "Gospel of Judas" it says that Jesus speaks privately to Judas telling him he will share with him alone "the mysteries of the kingdom." And subsequently, Jesus asks Judas to turn him over to the church elders who persecuted him and later to the Roman authorities so that his body can be sacrificed. On why the "Gospel of Judas" did not make its way to become one of the gospels in the bible could be because of the fact that it mostly contains private conversations between Jesus and Judas alone. Assumptions sprouting after the discovery of this Gnostic scripts vary with some contradicting assertions, but some scholars of present time believe that the "Gospel of Judas" is more like of a personal memoir which the rest of the disciples didn't know about, reason why it didn't find its way into the mainstream Christianity during the period where it was supposed to be written. But the question remains, did the "Gospel of Judas" speak enough evidence to exonerate himself (Judas), or if not mitigates his culpability? Jesus and Judas were supposed to be so close, in fact during the Passover feast in Jerusalem before they were about to partake on the Last Supper, Jesus had indirectly said that He loved Judas. Was his being 'close friend' and special to Jesus and supposedly overwhelming knowledge and understanding led him to be chosen to assume the role of a villain and put his Master at the hands of His enemies? Did Jesus choose the worthy person in Judas to be His traitor than appoint someone else of lesser qualities, or lesser evil than him? Or did God the Father make a perfect choice in commissioning the services of Judas and collaborate with him for the fulfillment of a Divine will?

CURSING JUDAS

But for us humans to judge the severity of Judas' actions based on the existing religious precept, it comes with no surprise to hear that most people would condemn the 'son of perdition' than owe him sympathy. In his book 'Infierno', Dante Alighieri, a famous writer during medieval period, had cursed Judas to damnation to the highest degree. On the contrary, Hugh J. Schonfield, in his book 'The Passover Plot,' gave some revealing insights that say Judas was just a facilitator in a covert pre-arranged surrender of Jesus to church authorities that persecuted Him. And to label him as a traitor would have been a historical fallacy of some sort. Arguments along this line were also presented in the controversial film, 'The Last Temptation of Christ'. Did the people during Jesus time on Earth and of today realize the importance of Judas actions and instead of cursing him to damnation we would instead be indebted to him? For without him assuming the role of a villain Jesus would have not died on the cross to pay for all our sins, thus fulfilling what had been foretold by the scriptures. There were theological and philosophical questions related to the act of betrayal Judas did to Jesus to fix his guilt. But there were some narratives in the Bible that points to the possibility that Judas was still alive after the resurrection. This leads to another question, Did God had arisen Judas from the dead? If so, was he not guilty? Was it all a play where Judas had to take that role and for Jesus to be united with the God the Father? The possibilities are endless; it all depends on your faith.