Judas: The Saint that Never Was

Judas Iscariot has been immortalized in history as the apostle who betrayed Jesus to his death. Almost universally thought to have gone to hell for his actions, his downfall is actually quite saddening. He fell to the deepest depths while every other apostle ascended to sainthood relatively quickly after their deaths.

Life

His last name, Iscariot, probably comes from the village of Kerioth in Judea, meaning he probably came from there and was known to his fellow Apostles as Judas of Kerioth. Others thought his last name may have referred to a Jewish rebel group called the Sicarii, who fatally stabbed Roman officials and sympathizers before quickly blending into crowds, but this is unlikely, as the Sicarii were only active a decade after Judas died.

Not a lot is known about the life of Judas before Jesus called him, except that Apparently his father was named Simon and that he developed a love for money. Jesus trusted Judas to look after the money bag which the apostles would use to buy food and supplies during their travels. It is mentioned in the gospel that Judas would steal from the money bag, a fact that the other apostles either suspected or found out after the fact.

What ended Jesus's ministry was his entry into Jerusalem, condemnation by the Jewish Temple leadership, and crucifixion. However, this couldn't have been made possible at that time without Judas's involvement. Swayed by the promise of 30 pieces of silver and perhaps disillusioned with Jesus's teachings of spiritual struggle and hardship (although John says that Satan entered his mind), Judas agreed to turn Jesus in.

After the Last Supper between Jesus and his disciples, Judas, who had left before when Jesus outed his plan of betrayal, returned with Temple guards and arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives.

s of His Death

Judas's relevance ended when he completed his end of the bargain with the Jewish priests and handed Jesus over to be tried and executed. He died around the same time as Jesus, either a little bit before or a little bit after, but the details of his death are where things may get confusing. The Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Acts (by Luke according to tradition) give us two stories.

"Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself." (Matthew 27:5)

"Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out." (Acts 1:18)

Some have tried to synchronize these s by saying that after Judas hanged himself, his decaying body fell and burst open on sharp rocks. This is possible, but also unlikely. There are some details between these two versions that can't be reconciled. For example, did Judas throw the money at the feet of the chief priests or did he buy a field with it? And how likely is it that he would have fallen headlong if the rope broke? The fact of the matter appears to be that he died in a tragic way that would have viewed as justice from above.

My theory is that the details were skewed overtime as writers wanted to emphasize this poetic justice, but that's just me. I'm not a theologian and only know about as much as the average person.

How the Apostles Reacted

The other apostles were no doubt devastated by the betrayal of a person they considered a friend and fellow disciple. When Judas left the Last Supper and later returned to arrest Jesus, the disciples were clearly confused. Why was Judas doing this? Chances are they never could have imagined that one of their own would betray them, which means that their surprise at Jesus's declaration that one of them would betray him wasn't only the result of each of their fear that it could be them, but the very notion itself that anyone would do that to their friend and teacher.

When Jesus was arrested in the garden, the disciples all fled in fear as Jesus said they would. Peter was the only one who tried to resist the arrest, and his anger wasn't directed at Judas specifically. Instead, he cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, only for Jesus to tell him to put away his sword and heal the servant's ear.

When the rush of the situation died down and the disciples ed everything with clear heads, their feelings would have reflected deep disappointment and a degree of resentment. After Judas died, the disciples prayed for a replacement at the start of the Book of Acts. When the decision came down between Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias, they prayed:

"'Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.' And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles."

(Acts 1:24-26)

If this doesn't say it well enough, I don't know what would. What began as confusion and fear eventually solidified after Jesus's death and resurrection as a disappointed sense of resignation. Judas wasn't one of them anymore. He betrayed them and was replaced by someone else. As for what Judas's "own place" meant, that could refer to one of three things:

1) the grave because he died;

2) hell because he lost his salvation;

3) that he took his life in a non-Jesus direction.

St. Judas: Patron Saint of the Penitent

In an alternate reality, Judas could have been one of the greatest saints of all time, or even the greatest of them all, ranking higher than the most famous St. Peter himself because of the comeback he would have had. If he repented, and assuming the apostles welcomed him back into their ranks after what he did to them, Judas would have been at the forefront of the early Christian church. He would have been the man who betrayed not just a fellow human being, but the Most High God, and still came to salvation in the end because God is all-forgiving.

Would Judas have been regarded as a pope or patriarch like Peter or Mark? It's possible, but it's also possible, and in my opinion more likely, that he would have taken up a role more like Paul. When Paul came to Christ on the road to Damascus, his previous persecution of Christians was a looming guilt that he carried with him for the rest of his life. This can be seen somewhat by the tone of his letters to churches he founded where he mentions his past life as a staunch Pharisee who sought to wipe out the following Jesus had built.

Judas would have understood Paul's situation more than any other apostle, despite how they welcomed him with open arms. Paul killed and imprisoned followers of Jesus? Big deal. Judas betrayed Jesus himself and condemned him to die in one of the scientifically most painful ways possible. Judas could have been a figure in Paul's early faith journey who acted as a mentor not only for how to believe in Christ after rejecting him, but how to work with the people he once worked against and how to overcome his own inner demons stemming from his previous life.

Like Paul, Judas would have inspired many with the story of his salvation and become a major target for people who wanted to kill the church in its crib. As such, it is safe to assume that Judas probably would have been martyred earlier than most, likely somewhere inside the 50s-60s AD.

When we Judas, we should never him as a crooked man who got what he deserved. We should him as a once-promising individual whose potential was wasted by his own struggles, which he failed to overcome. We must always pity the Iscariot.