Was Judas always a bad guy?

Judas has a very bad press in Christian circles.  We hate him.  We use his name as an insult – “What a Judas!” we say of any betrayal.  He reminds us of the very worst in humanity.  After all, he betrayed Christ.  He is so unlike any normal person we know that our very repugnance prevents us from examining ourselves to see if a little bit of Judas resides in us.

But was Judas always so bad? What positive role did he play in the group?

Who did the grunt work? Jesus and the disciples’ daily life

The stories of Jesus and his disciples are known and loved by all Christians.  Yet how much do we really know of their daily life together?  What did they talk about?  Surely more than those brief conversations that are recorded.  How did they manage their day-to-day activities?  What and where did they eat?  Where did they sleep?  Where did the money come from that enabled this to happen?  There were donations of course from grateful followers, but who actually managed the money?  It certainly wasn’t Jesus.

Jesus’ job spec – Leader

Jesus’ role was to set the direction of their travels and determine how long they stayed in a particular place. However, his main focus was teaching, healing, and being the son of God wherever they happened to find themselves.

Jesus’ role, simply put, was Mission.  He was very clear about this and it is stated definitively in Luke 4:16-22.

So, who was managing the group? The group had to be administered in some way if the journeys were to continue.  Jesus was a human being like the rest of us, and he and the disciples would have died of cold and starvation if arrangements for their care had not been made.

Judas’ job spec –Administrator

We know very little about Judas apart from his role in Jesus’ betrayal, but we can surmise some things about him:

He was called to be a disciple of Jesus, to leave his job, his home and his family just like the others.

He started off with good intentions to do good to the poor and to help the sick and suffering.

He used his particular gifts for organisation and managing money to make his contribution to the life of the group. We know from John 13:29 that Judas looked after the common purse.  He was, in fact, the administrator.

Looking after this ragtag bunch of people with their much loved but unpredictable leader must have been a nightmare.  Jesus seems unconcerned with where the next meal is coming from, telling everyone not to worry about such things and to consider the lilies of the field. (Luke 12:27) This seems like fine advice except when he wants the group to cater for 5000+  people!!! (Luke 3 9:14)  Judas knows he is supposed to trust in God, but the practicalities of everyday life make that difficult when the buck – or shekel – stops with him.

Are all administrators evil?

Associating administrators with Judas does not mean that all admin people are evil.  Far from it.  In the Jerusalem Bible’s version of Romans 12:6-7, administration is named as one of the spiritual gifts.  In fact, it appears second after the gift of prophecy, suggesting that administration is a noble pursuit, although it does need to be informed by the first gift of mission.

In the early days, Judas really cared about Jesus’ mission to help others.  When the woman breaks open her expensive ointment to wash Jesus’ feet, (Mark 14:3-9) some mutter angrily (and I’m guessing Judas is among them), ‘That money should have gone to the poor.’  Not to treasure or property or comfort, but to the poor.  Judas’ heart, at that point, is in the right place, but his vision of Jesus’ mission is limited to what he can see with his own two eyes.  He just can’t see the bigger picture that only Jesus understands viz. that Jesus is the Christ whose mission is to save the whole of creation.

What triggers Judas?

As their journey progresses, I believe Judas becomes increasingly worn down and frustrated by Jesus’ seemingly irrational behaviour.  It likely comes to a head when Jesus begins to foretell his own death, and despite very good rational reasons not to do so, he sets his face toward Jerusalem (Matthew 16:21, Luke 10:51).  In so doing, Jesus puts himself, and his disciples, in grave danger.

In Judas’ eyes, the whole enterprise will surely come unstuck if Jesus dies.  Where did that leave the rest of them?  Leaderless, without direction and in grave danger of death themselves.  My feeling is that Judas the administrator, tasked with the group’s daily survival, becomes very, very frustrated and very, very angry with Jesus at this point. The idea that saving your life means you lose it and that losing your life for Jesus’ sake means you save it, (Luke: 9:24) just doesn’t make any sense to him.

We know that this anger results in Judas scuttling everything by selling Jesus to the Chief Priests for 30 pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:14-16).  In my experience, this is not an uncommon human response to the possible death of an organisation.  Let’s just hasten the end, people think, and put a stop to the uncertainty. Let’s blow the whole thing up and get the inevitable end over quickly.

In this allegory, Administration (Judas) initially supports Mission (Jesus), but with too limited a perspective.  Judas confines his vision to the here and now – to what he can immediately perceive – then tries to manage everything with the tangible resource of finance.  Jesus’ mission needs Judas the administrator’s skills, but Jesus’ vision is so broad that Judas and the other disciples, can’t comprehend it. However, where Judas really goes off the rails is when he tries to control the outcome.  Judas the administrator puts his faith in money and the organisation, ahead of his faith in Jesus.

The results for Judas are catastrophic.

In trying to save his life, he loses it.

What does this say to the Church today? 

Mission and administration are inextricably linked.  Jesus cannot achieve what he does in his travels without Judas’ administration skills.  And mission gives Judas the impetus to do his utmost to keep the group functioning.

Administration is a gift of the Holy Spirit but it always needs to be infused with the Spirit.  Faith in God and much prayer must always form the basis for all Property and Finance committees’ thinking and activity. Administration supports and enables the Church’s mission, not the other way around.

The Church’s mission cannot be determined by the need to maximise money or preserve a building or maintain tradition.  Yes, we have to be sensible stewards of what we have been given, but the Church’s mission cannot be limited by earthly concerns.  As we know from Judas’ story, if you get your priorities in the wrong order, the results are dire.

We need to keep Jesus’ vision and mission front and centre.

Image credits: “Israel-05392 – 30 Pieces of Silver” by archer10 (Dennis) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.