Howdy!
I'd like to bounce a few things off all y'all that I been pondering. It's kinda different that most things I write about but it's been sticking in my head.
Last month at our family reunion, we had us a small family Sunday Service out on the deck. Won't go into much detail but something said there stuck in my head about Jesus having a time line. So it got me to pondering, if He had a timeline, was Judas a part of it?
Here's what I'm getting at, we all know Jesus came to save us and had to die to do it; could Judas have been the catalyst that started it?
Judas was close to Jesus. He was in fact, the money man or road manager for Jesus and the rest of the Disciples. Jesus trusted him so could it have been possible that He trusted Judas enough and that Judas was loyal enough to do what had to be done?
Jesus had told his Disciples that one would betray Him. All but one were aghast. Is it possible that out of loyalty and love, Judas could do the unthinkable? Could it be that the reason he hanged himself after giving the money back was not out of guilt for betrayal, but out of grief?
I know this is all supposition and postulation, but did not God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in a test of faith and loyalty? So, is not also possible that Christ could have asked the same act of faith and loyalty of Judas? Christ had plans for all his Disciples as we all know, maybe this was his plan for his close friend Judas.
Guess only one way to find out huh? Me, I'm kinda looking forward to finding out!
I've written comments twice now and been erased, I'll try one last time. I've often thought Judas might have been a political zealot who was hoping to force Christ's hand to overthrow Rome-- somewhat good intentions coupled with a lack of understanding about Jesus' mission. But John tells us in 13:27 that Satan entered into Judas, and Jesus later refers to him as lost in Jn 17:12, so I've tried to credit Judas with good intentions, but likely he had selfish motives-- hoping to get Jesus to be king so he'd have a bigger treasury to manage (and steal from, Jn 12:6). I think he did hang himself out of grief and guilt, and the sad thing was, if he had just waited 2 days, he could have witnessed the resurrection and been redeemed by hope! But it's an interesting topic, Eddie Dale
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