The Gospel of Judas

I have been drawn to Judas Iscariot since I was a little boy. My mother used to listen to "Heaven on Their Minds" from Jesus Christ Superstar while I was in the womb (We wonder why I'm gay?!) and as a child, I gravitated towards the song and the story. I would always play his character when acting out the show as a kid in my bedroom and it was probably some of the first acting I ever did because I felt his pain so deeply. And I felt like something was wrong. In my gut, even then, I instinctively knew, something didn't add up. Someone wasn't telling this story right.

Driven underground for over 1800 years, not only has the Gospel of Judas been found, but it has recently been indisputably authenticated. They're saying it could turn the Christian church on its head. Mmm, doubtful. The church has grown accustomed to ignoring every other gospel castrated from the Bible, so I don't see why this one would be much different. Still, the story is fascinating and for those of us who believe in listening to what they don't want us to know, it is very powerful.

Through the ages, Judas has become a bad word. Just like the pages of papyrus the Coptic script was scrawled upon, it has been torn to smithereens and will take decades of work to rehabilitate. These days, the name Judas is heavily associated with betrayal, deceit and even anti-Semitism as he became a poster child for Hitler's war against the Jews.

Back on the topic of musicals, has anyone seen "Wicked"? The Gospel of Judas is very similar, actually. In "Wicked," they take the story of "The Wizard of Oz" but metaphorically pan the cameras to the side and say, "Yes, but what you don't know is that this was going on over here." This is the second side there is to every story, told through the eyes of the one who was deemed "wicked." And thanks to the modern technology of radio carbon dating, we can make no mistake: History records there was another side of the story.

Truth be told, there are more than 30 gospels out there that have been authenticated. The good book is missing a whole lot of pages! And guess what all the pages have in common? They're nearly all of Gnostic faith. Gnostics believe that we are all capable of connecting to the divine, though we can not comprehend it; that we each have a spark of the divine within us ("made in his image") and that to know thy true, pure self is the closest we can come to knowing God ("behold the dwelling of God is with men") in this body or physical realm -- which is a prison for our souls, they believe. Actually, they wouldn't say God. They would say G-d. They believe that since we can not begin to comprehend Him, we should show humility and respect by not assuming any sort of understanding by labeling. This is also why modern day Kabbalah calls it "the light." Kabbalah is one of many Gnostic religions.

In fact, the only four gospels that are severely anti-Gnostic are the ones that somehow made their way into The Bible. Even when other gospels were discovered a few years after the rule of Constantine and the Christian movement, Iranius refused to accept them, saying that there were four directions of the wind and therefore only four gospels. Of course, today, this sounds utterly ridiculous. But why were these four chosen in the first place?

Politics. How do you get people to convert to your beliefs? Well, the easy route is to put fear in them, preferably the fear of God. (We're still doing this today, aren't we, Mr. Bush?) The last thing the leaders needed was people thinking they didn't need their advice, their insight, their control. If people could connect to the Divine on their own, a lot of religious and political figures would be completely out of job and no longer in "control." So it was then. So it is today.

The gospels of Mary, Truth, Thomas, Phillip -- they've all floated with Judas as the many Gnostic gospels that, though authenticated and though out-numbering those in the Bible (four versus thirty-plus?!), the church refuses to acknowledge for obvious reasons. Their reason? One of leading Christian church figures in America recently stated their reason for this to National Geographic: "Why would you need to read anything else? I can't think of anything left to say that isn't said in Mark, Matthew, Luke and John." But for some of us, there's always more to be learned and always a second side to every story.

The lost gnostic gospels have never labeled Judas as a villain and in fact, neither do all of the ones in the modern day Bible. In fact, he seems to get more evil as the four books go along. Mark passes no judgment on Judas whatsoever, but by the time we get to John, we have him portrayed as being possessed by Satan.

One thing they all share in common though: Judas was Jesus's best friend.

According to the gospel of Judas, his turning Jesus in was not an act of betrayal, but an act of obedience as he was acting under orders from his best friend and was acting, in fact, very much against his own will.

One thing that struck me the most about this gospel is how much Jesus laughs with him. That's not in the Bible much, Jesus laughing, you know? So that tells me these two were frat brothers. They shared a bond and understood each other in a way no one else could, much like Jesus's unique relationship with Mary.

According to this gospel, Judas, like Jesus, accepted that he had the ability to connect with that spark within him and came to understand through Jesus's teachings that we are all capable of so much more than we realize. Because he was more advanced than the others, Jesus singled him out regularly and taught him more. "Your star's brilliance will eclipse all the others," Jesus told him, telling him that his "gift" to him would be the greatest of all. The gift of turning him in. The gift of "sacrificing the man that clothes me," meaning sacrificing his body, his flesh. Naturally! It's a Gnostic gospel! So they believe the crucifixion freed Jesus's tremendous soul of the prison of his body and of this world.

Jesus could not turn himself in. (Ever notice that?!) Judas did what his brother could not bare to do. Like a best friend for life who has been asked to pull the plug, through a flood of tears, he did as his hero, his mentor and the great love of his life asked of him.

And then he was left with no one. The other apostles were already jealous as hell because of the special relationship he shared with Jesus. (Just look at how John's student portrayed him according to his gospel! Isn't it strange how John's gospel is consistently the most crazy and contradicting? I think whatever student of his penned that one was just wacky!) And now that he seemingly turned on Jesus, they weren't about to let him continue being a part of the club.

Judas Iscariot dug deep within himself to find the strength to do what no one else could for his best friend and for the world, and was then left in that world completely abandoned. A world full of ridicule, misconceptions and no one who could possibly understand him like Christ had. Grief stricken, he hung himself. The romantic in me says maybe it was because he couldn't bare to not be near him. Whatever the case, without Jesus by his side, he found it difficult to find that strength within himself ever again, as so many people do today. With or without Jesus by their side.

The Gospel of Judas is one of the saddest stories I've ever read, but ultimately it is an inspiring tale. Jesus taught Judas that we are capeable of so much more than we know and then put him to the test, forcing him to dig deep within himself for that spark of the divine to carry out what was the hardest sacrifice he would ever have to make.

In times of hardship, especially as it pertains to friendship and sacrificing your own needs for that of your closest friends, I will remember you, Judas Iscariot.


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