The Judas Question

+JMJ+

May the word of the Lord be on our minds, on our lips, and in our hearts.

Come Holy Spirit....

Well, now that we've survived the alleged "Rapture" that was supposed to happen on May 21, I guess I can continue writing this blog, hehe! Obviously I will have to write an entry about the dangers of false teachers soon, as this "pastor" was a good example of that.

But the topic I felt called to discuss is what I refer to as, "The Judas Question."

This refers to the question that a lot of people have asked over the centuries, and that is, since Jesus had to be betrayed as part of His passion that lead to the Crucifixion, does that make Judas guilt-free? In other words, was Judas committing a grave sin, or was he just doing what he was supposed to do? And did he go to heaven or hell?

Well, I cannot say whether he went to heaven or hell, only the Lord knows that (well, and Judas, of course.) Mystics such as Anne Catherine Emmerich have had visions of Judas in hell, but scripture does not make that clear (don't confuse mystic with psychic, there are not the same thing.)

So, the question is, was Judas guilty or just doing what had to be done?

Christ's words to Judas (that you can find easily throughout the Passion narratives of the Gospels) show that Jesus felt Judas was very much guilty of the choice he made. But if it had to be done, how can that be?

Since Jesus clearly had God's omnipotence, and He hand picked all of His apostles, Jesus knowingly hand picked His betrayer. Keep in mind that in the days and hours leading up to His passion, Jesus foretold that one of twelve would betray Him and even indicated it was Judas, without saying his name, so He proves that He knew ahead of time what Judas' role was, and there is no reason to believe He did not know that when He chose Judas to be an Apostle. So, He chose Judas not because He felt he would be a good apostle, but because He knew Judas was the kind of person that would willingly betray Him for some silver. So He kept Judas around, knowing from day one that when the time came, he would betray Him for 30 pieces of silver and turn Him over to the authorities.

So how did Jesus even interest Judas in joining Him and staying so long? He put Judas in charge of the money the Apostles collected to give to widows and the needy, allowing the greedy Judas an opportunity to skim off of the top for his own personal gain. 

So what does this mean? It means that Judas made his decision in and of his own accord. He was not "led" to do it by any external force, he betrayed Jesus by his own free will. He was chosen as an Apostle because Jesus knew he would do the job willingly when it came time to betray Him. And, of course, that's exactly what Judas did. And that's why Jesus was so harsh to him, because He knew Judas chose to do this willingly. Needless to say, Jesus could read people's hearts, and He knew how dark Judas' soul was.

So yes, the betrayal did have to happen, and Jesus chose as His Apostle the man who He knew would willingly do this evil job when the time came, thereby fulfilling the prophecy, and making Judas fully responsible for his actions.

Godspeed, everyone!