Hmm, it sure seems so according to the Gospel of Judas which was an ancient Coptic manuscript from 1700 years ago.
The papyrus manuscript known as a codex maintains, as the bible does not, that Jesus requested that Judas "betray" him by handing him to authorities, something it says pained Judas greatly.
"The codex has been authenticated as a genuine work of ancient Christian apocryphal literature on five fronts: radiocarbon dating, ink analysis, multispectral imaging, contextual evidence and paleographic evidence," said Terry Garcia, executive vice president for Mission Programs for the National Geographic Society.
That seems to really change the whole deal about him. And it puts Jesus in a slightly different light too. Not only did he know he was going to die he even had Judas go out and tell the authorities where he was. In other words he knew that he wouldn't make it to the day after next and made sure of it.
Maybe Jesus sent Judas out to protect the other Disciples from getting the beatdown along with him. I mean it was Judas who came up and pointed out Jesus from the rest of the bearded, fishermen looking fellows. I can see how Judas would have been broken up by it too since he was protecting his friends by betraying his Rabbi on that guys very own orders. Also if Judas never pointed Jesus out then they probably would have grabbed all of the Disciples and tortured them to make sure none of them were pulling an "I am Spartacus" trick.
Judas probably may not have even knew what was going to go down once Jesus was in custody. Judas probably didn't think Jesus would be crucified at all and just roughed up a little and maybe banished from Jerusalem. So when they crucified Jesus maybe Judas couldn't take it and then hanged himself. I mean the Disciples probably didn't believe that Jesus told him to become a rat so he was out of their group too. Hmm, I wonder if this is going to change the thinking on Judas?
1 comment:
I agree with your assessment that the location, translation, and authentication by dating of this Gnostic manuscript changes one's perspective about Jesus and Judas...perhaps rendering Jesus even more fully human and divine. His removal was politically essential, his possible and very public release was thwarted by the San Hedron...and his sacrifice and passion tide enrich all of his followers...the billions of practicing Christians today stem from those chosen 12 and that sacrificed 13th Apostolic group of plain spoken men who chose to follow a non-traditional Jew at a dangerous tipping point in human history...my soul is glad they did.
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