JCS: Judas' Death
Listen Along!
Judas' Death
(I'm skipping ahead to make sure I get the important songs and finish by Easter.)
Finally we get to the good stuff, the dark stuff, the real juicy Judas stuff. This is Judas' second-to-last hurrah (we'll be covering "Jesus Christ Superstar" tomorrow), but his last mortal hurrah I suppose. This is a hard song to swallow because it hits some of those predestination questions that make Judas such a sticky character. The beginning of the song reaffirms that Judas thought that he was doing the right thing (hmm, something about "good intentions" comes to mind), but let's cut to the chase: "My mind is darkness now -- My God I am sick I've been used / And you knew all the time / God! I'll never know why you chose me for your crime / For your bloody crime / You have murdered me! You have murdered me!"
The problem with predestination is that, if it's true, Judas is God's scapegoat. Jesus needed a Judas so Judas was born with betrayal in his heart. He was selected personally by God. How do we reconcile a God of love who wants us near him with a God who picks someone out for death? Maybe one man for the greater good? I really don't have any answers here, this is about me asking questions. Is Judas a good argument against predestination? What about Pharoah in Egypt, whose heart was hardened by God? Maybe what Jesus sings in "Gethsemane" applies here: "God, your will is hard / But you're holding every card."
I guess in some ways we should be thankful for Judas being Judas, or being selected to be the Judas. None of us would be here without him. I think that when you get down to it, there just aren't any easy answers about Judas. He's not a two-dimensional cackling villain, we're him. He's us. In many ways he's a brilliant character, in many ways he's the ultimate antagonist, the ultimate horror of a vision not shared. I don't know.
God, thank you for your love for us, even when we can't understand it.
posted by Matt Wiggins @ 1:47 PM
2 Comments:
GAR! I posted a comment, but it didn't go through, so I'm starting over. If this one isn't incredible, the first one was. Anywho, here's the gist - predestination and free will are not opposites (though most think that they are). I think it is possible that God knows what is going to happen (and has the power to change it), but allows us to make our own choices.
Now, another point here is that Satan entered Judas (Luke 22, John 13). I forget what movie it was that suggested that existence was a big chess game between God and Satan. The rules were that they could not directly manipulate the pieces (us), only influence them. If Satan entered Judas, then he broke those rules. Granted, I'm basing that off of a fictional idea (however, we can't prove predestination or free will, so...).
Something to remember here: Satan chose Judas, it wasn't nessarily God's pick. True - it could be suggested that God set up the circumstances for Judas to be the easy choice (or any one of the apostles, really). But, the thing here is that God works things out for good (no matter what).
Relate it to today: when something bad happens, is it God's fault? (we may blame Him, but is He truly to blame?) In looking at my parents' divorce, I don't believe that God made my mother and father not get along; it came as a result of the sin from Adam and Eve. And as a young child, it was the worst thing in the world. In looking back, I see all of the positives that came from it. In fact, I would not be writing on this blog (or working at this church or at this depth in my faith) had they not divorced. The events of my life have led me to where I am now.
In the same way as Judas, a wrong that I do another person could turn out to bring millions of people to Christ and subsequently, God. In reality, the question of predestination versus free will in relation to Judas only scares us because we fear for the soul. We worry about the soul of Judas because we worry about our own. We think, "If God can use Judas that way (i.e. damn him), He can use me that way too!" And then we'd be damned for life too.
So, we haven't answered any questions here. However, we have opened up another question: If we concede that God preordained Judas to betray Jesus, (and if God is a loving God) what happens to the soul of Judas? (If we believe that God didn't preordain Judas to betray Jesus, the point doesn't matter.)
Well, I know the second and third questions I'm asking God as soon as I get the chance :)
And that's going to bug me about which movie . . . Devil's Advocate? Constantine?
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