An odd query
Jun. 15th, 2004 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bktheirregularI'm not as familiar with the Bible as some, though I have read through a good portion of it. But an odd "spin" on the Last Supper, the Passion, the Crucifixion, and all that, has wormed its way into my skull, and may someday wish to be written.
I was struck by the Bible's assertion that the spirit of Satan entered Judas when Jesus handed him the bread at the Last Supper, marking Judas as the one who would betray him. Judas Iscariot is, of course, the archetype of traitors, reviled, condemned. But before, if I remember, he had been considered the closest of Jesus' apostles, and it was at that moment - not before - the moment when Jesus said "the one I hand this bread to will betray me" and handed the bread to Judas - that Judas became one with the enemy.
But what if ...
...what if Judas' response to Jesus had been "I will not betray you; I refuse to betray you?"
And if the betrayal of Jesus was a necessary part of the death and resurrection of Jesus, what then? Would it have taken an appeal from Jesus to convince Judas to carry out the betrayal?
Bible scholars on the friends list, I ask: is it blasphemy to question the motives of Judas Iscariot?
I suppose it's a plot bunny. Even has its own name: I've filed it under "Iscariot the Loyal".
I was struck by the Bible's assertion that the spirit of Satan entered Judas when Jesus handed him the bread at the Last Supper, marking Judas as the one who would betray him. Judas Iscariot is, of course, the archetype of traitors, reviled, condemned. But before, if I remember, he had been considered the closest of Jesus' apostles, and it was at that moment - not before - the moment when Jesus said "the one I hand this bread to will betray me" and handed the bread to Judas - that Judas became one with the enemy.
But what if ...
...what if Judas' response to Jesus had been "I will not betray you; I refuse to betray you?"
And if the betrayal of Jesus was a necessary part of the death and resurrection of Jesus, what then? Would it have taken an appeal from Jesus to convince Judas to carry out the betrayal?
Bible scholars on the friends list, I ask: is it blasphemy to question the motives of Judas Iscariot?
I suppose it's a plot bunny. Even has its own name: I've filed it under "Iscariot the Loyal".
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-15 01:25 pm (UTC)No, wait I'm wrong. They all mention him. But it's way after the fact, and some of the stuff doesn't jibe.
It's the suicide after that's only mentioned in Matthew, and in the Acts, Judas dies by accident. Some Bible scholars regard Judas as a fabrication to make the history more black-and-white, with a betrayer built in. And there's other parts where it looks like Judas was included with the Twelve after Jesus's death, and then "turned away to go to his own place", who knows why.
So yeah, it's *all* open to interpretation. One of the scholars asks why did anyone have to betray him? It's not like Jesus wasn't well-known in Jerusalem. Why did it have to be one of his friends to pick him out in a dark garden? They arrested him in secret, but tried him publically-- there's a lot of contradiction there.