So, really, who was Judas Iscariot? The world may never really know. As an #Exvangelical I've always been curious about a man who could follow Jesus around and then betray him. https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1199051932947509248

It gets really complicated when you find out that Judas was the one that Jesus called Friend (Mathew 26:50). I doubt this was said sarcastically. Here's why:

Matthew 19:28 states that the twelve disciples "will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matthew 19:28. But if this were true, that would mean that Judas is up there himself, even though he betrayed Jesus?

Trying to understand Judas and Betrayal is a difficult subject. @ToscaLee wrote a fantastic fiction book about him that humanizes the most hated man in Christianity. It's a interesting dive into the character, if he existed.

https://www.amazon.com/Iscariot-Novel-Judas-Tosca-Lee/dp/1451683987

It humanizes Judas, and paints him as a true disciple of Jesus. It's written almost like a suicide note by a man who wrestles with Jewish upbringing and education and paints him as a man who betrayed Jesus, and who was himself betrayed.

But what if Judas never really existed? It's entirely possible that he was a fictional character. John Shelby Sprong argued that Judas was a character created by early Christians. https://chqdaily.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/spong-breaks-down-literary-myth-of-judas-iscariot/

Sprong argues that the name Judas was the Greek word for Judah or "Jew." Also, Judas isn't named until the last of the gospels, which was written after the others.

The word "Iscariot" is also a little weird. Some people have written that the name points to his place of birth. Others say that it is an allusion to the Latin word for "Assassin." (sicarius) There's a lot of mystery just to unfold there.

The story of Judas also challenges the idea of Biblical inerrancy. In the gospel, he hanged himself. In Acts, he just simply fell over and died. Which is it "Inerrant word of God?"

Sidenote: Judas was the money keeper, and the gospel of John, which I mentioned was written later, paints him as a thief. Why would Jesus trust a man who would later sit with him judging the tribes of Israel, with the money if he was a thief?

So lets get controversial. If Judas didn't exist, why did he get written in? Well since the followers of Jesus were the first Christians, it makes sense that they would pain the Orthodox Jews as the enemy.

I personally believe that Judas was invented at the same time as Christian anti-semitism was invented. By painting Jews as the killers of Jesus, the new Christians were working to earn favor with the Romans.

There are other beliefs that are fun to rabbit hole down to. Judas and Jesus were the first of the 12+1 to die. There is some conspiracy theory that Judas was the one that was crucified in Jesus' place. That would explain how Jesus was "resurrected."

http://wallingtongospelhall.org/was-it-jesus-christ-or-judas-that-was-crucified-at-calvary/

What is certain is that Judas is used to paint a Jew as Betrayer, and Jews as the killers of Christ. This was used even by Adolf Hitler.

If you dig deeper, Judas' story seems to be cobbled together from various Old Testament stories. Coincidence? Prophecy? Authoring choices? Depends on who you ask. Christians, of course, see this as fulfillment of prophecy. I myself believe this to be strategic writing.

One final point of the mystery. That comes from Corinthians 15:3-5:

Bible: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve."

According to Scripture, Judas killed himself around the same time as the crucifixion, but before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whoops? How could Jesus appear to "the 12" if they were 11 plus a dead guy?

A great deal of evidence states, that, (much like the story of Pilate pardoning Barabbas and announcing Jesus as King of the Jews) and Jesus being tried during Passover, is a story used to vilify someone, and a whole people.

Pilate washed his hands of Jesus' death, and then killed him anyway? Seems unlikely, and there is evidence for how unlikely that is, but when the story of Jesus was being written in the decades after his death, it's more likely that there was an effort to exonerate the Romans.

It's important to Christianity that Jesus was betrayed and killed. But it's also very nasty to use the name of man who's name translates to "Jew" to paint the Jewish people as Christ killers.

What I think is more important is wrestling with a story about a man who betrayed his teacher and friend. Trying to understand why is difficult and heartbreaking, and I think trying to understand the emotions of that situation teaches more than the betrayal itself.

This is where Christianity fails the story of Judas. They focus on the what of Judas' betrayal, but not the why. This is on point for Christians. They condemn sinners far easier than they help them wrestle with the underlying issue.

I mean, honestly, I think it's necessary to humanize Judas which is what I love about @ToscaLee's book. Even though it's Christian fiction, it humanized the story for me in a way no pastor or teacher has ever been able to and I admire her attention to history and detail.