Advertisement
Easter
The Easter traitor, Judas, has his day on center stage
CAPTION
By PR NEWSWIRE
For Christians, this week is building to the central drama of their faith -- Jesus is betrayed, crucified, and resurrected.
So, no surprise, there's a accomplished lot of ink today on Judas, the backbiting addict who gave history the abhorrent angel of the "kiss of death" with his arresting to the guards who arrest Jesus in the Biblical narrative.
And there's the annual pre-Easter pop-culture dust up. This year it's Lady Gaga's new single, Judas. USA TODAY's Lifeline Live coverage noted self-appointed Catholic culture czar William Donohue's conniption about Gaga.
Rev. James Martin, culture editor for America magazine was a bit more tempered about the ill-timed song. Martin says,
Lady Gaga is showing her love of the "bad boy," which is a tradition almost as old as the Gospels. But singing a love song to Judas makes you wonder about her feelings towards the other guy, Jesus.
And while I enjoy Lady Gaga's music, she wouldn't be the first person I would go to for Scripture commentary. Maybe I expected something else from a graduate of the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Especially at Easter.
Martin is well studied on Judas. In 2004, he was the theological consultant for a troop of actors for the play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Martin wrote about the experience in his book, A Jesuit on Broadway: Center Stage with Faith, Doubt, Forgiveness and more.
Gustave Dore's etching portrays Judas' kiss betraying Jesus to guards the night before the Bible says Christ was crucified.
 |
| CAPTION By Gustave Dore |
As Martin and the actors and staff tease out the meanings of this critical moment in Christian history, he finally turned to a scholar that may have the explanation that makes the most sense of the betrayal. The late William Barclay, professor of divinity at Glasgow University, wrote that:
Judas was trying to force Jesus's hand, to get him to act in a decisive way. Perhaps, he suggests, Judas expected the arrest would prompt Jesus to reveal himself as the long-awaited Messiah by overthrowing the Roman occupiers. Barclay noted that none of the other traditional explanations (for example, greed, disillusionment, jealousy) explain why Judas would have been so shattered after the crucifixion that he committed suicide. In other words, only if Judas had expected a measure of good to come from his actions would suicide make any sense."
If you just want to brush up on your Holy Week info, you can hit the two-minute video at Busted Halo for a Catholic view or check out an evangelical essay at Christianity Today.
DO YOU HAVE A THEORY... for why the Bible gives us this news of Judas' betrayal? Was it capital to the news of Christ's sacrificial death? Was it a hidden way to accusation others, a basis of anti-Semitism? (Remember, Faith & Reason is not an advance area -- all views, respectfully presented, are welcome.)
7:58 AM | 0
comments
