[Mb-civic] No revelations in Gospel of Judas - James Martin - Boston Globe Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

  No revelations in Gospel of Judas

By James Martin  |  April 11, 2006  |  The Boston Globe

LAST WEEK'S bombshell release of the Gospel of Judas had many Christians 
wondering whether the familiar story of Good Friday needed some 
updating. The fragmentary text, probably from the second or third 
century, depicts Jesus asking Judas to betray him. In doing so, Jesus 
says that Judas, a close friend, will ''exceed" the other Apostles.

The explanation, to put it mildly, is not the traditional one.

The leather-bound manuscript, discovered in the Egyptian desert in the 
1970s, seems authentic. Written on both sides of 13 sheets of crumbling 
papyrus, the document was made public by the National Geographic Society.

Will the Gospel of Judas change the Christian understanding of Good Friday?

Probably not.

For one thing, the text appears to have been written by followers of 
Gnosticism, an early Christian sect that emphasized salvation through a 
kind of secret knowledge (''Gnostic" comes from the Greek ''gnosis," 
meaning ''knowledge"). The Gnostics also believed in the absolute 
superiority of the spirit over the body. In short: spirit good, body bad.

In this light, it's not surprising that Judas's most famous deed, which 
led to the execution of Jesus, is celebrated in this newly released 
text. One passage has Jesus saying to Judas, ''For you will sacrifice 
the man that clothes me." In other words, you'll help me get rid of my 
body, which clothes my spirit.

The Gospel of Judas has an agenda -- at least when it comes to the story 
of Good Friday. For that matter, so do the familiar gospels of Matthew, 
Mark, Luke, and John. But their aim was different: to portray not Judas 
but Jesus in a positive light, and to describe what led to the 
Crucifixion. They are far less concerned with Judas. As a result, they 
offer contradictory and even confusing, explanations for Judas's betrayal.

The Gospel of John has Jesus saying, ''Do what you must do," implying 
the collusion that the Gospel of Judas highlights, but for different 
reasons. John's version of Jesus seems resigned to his friend's deceit. 
In Matthew and Mark, the motive is greed. ''What will you give me?" says 
Judas to the high priests. That same theme finds echoes in John, where 
Judas is depicted as the greedy keeper of the common purse.

It seems unlikely that Jesus would have had to entice Judas to betray 
him. There were ample opportunities when Jesus himself could have 
sufficiently enraged both the Jewish and Roman authorities, who were 
often members of the crowds that witnessed his miracles or heard his 
subversive teachings. Jesus could easily have gotten arrested on his own.

And it seems unlikely that Judas would have done it for money. Why would 
Judas have been traipsing around the desert for three years if he was 
looking to get rich?

But the biggest roadblock to all these interpretations is Judas's 
suicide, reported by Matthew in his gospel -- written earlier than the 
Gospel of Judas, and therefore probably more accurate. (In Acts, Judas's 
death is both more unclear and more gruesome.) If he was in cahoots with 
Jesus, and hoping for the death of Jesus, as the Gospel of Judas 
contends, why would he have killed himself?

Perhaps the most plausible explanation was articulated several decades 
ago, by the Scripture scholar William Barclay, author of the widely used 
''Daily Study Bible." Barclay contended that the most compelling reason 
for the betrayal was that Judas, frustrated with Jesus' slowness in 
overthrowing the Roman overlords, hoped somehow to force his master's 
hand. Perhaps he hoped that after being arrested by the Romans, Jesus 
would have to act, ushering in a sort of miraculous revolution. What 
happens instead horrifies Judas: His friend is tortured and executed. 
Overcome with remorse, Judas kills himself. As Barclay concluded, ''This 
is in fact the view that best suits all the facts."

In the end, Judas wanted a God of his own making, an avenging God who 
would serve justice by tossing out the hated occupiers and restoring the 
fortunes of the people of Israel. What Judas got was very different: a 
suffering God who accepted a shameful death on a cross. Tragically, 
Judas didn't stick around to see what happened on Easter morning.

The Gospel of Judas will continue to be fodder for television shows, 
magazine covers, and lunchtime conversations. But the answer to the 
question raised every Good Friday remains the same. Why did Judas do it? 
Because Judas, like many of us, wanted to make God in his own image -- 
rather than the other way around.

The Rev. James Martin is author of ''My Life With the Saints."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/04/11/no_revelations_in_gospel_of_judas/
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