This is for those who can't quite understand Judas.

Go back in time. You're a Jew in Israel. Who do you hate the most?
KKK? Not around! Hitler and the Aryan supremacists? Not around, the
master race is still living in the woods. Later, Hitler, later.

The Italians? No, not quite. But close. The Romans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And their invading army. And their taxes! And all the little things
they must have gotten away with in those days. Beatings all the time.
What about sex? Did they board planes for weekend trips and take along
their wives? No, of course not.  They had to have taken local girls for
pleasure. Rape!

Many Italian genes must have spilled into that Jewish gene pool.
So much so, that maybe when the Germans ordered Italy to start killing
their Jews. It was too hard for many of them because on some gut level
they sensed their genes in the Jewish gene pool. They sensed in a small
measure they would be killing themselves.

So just like a family member might disobey an order to kill a relative,
no matter who issued the order. Many decided to hide and protect Jews
instead of helping to eliminate them. But who knows?


Now you're Judas. YOU HATE ROMANS! ALL JEWS HATE ROMANS! YOU WOULD KILL THEM 
ALL IF YOU COULD, but you can't.  Hate longs for killing, doesn't it?
Hate thirsts for blood. And everyday you witness some little injustice which
only deepens your hatred of them. This feeling grows everyday.

Then comes along Jesus. You are not like any of his other disciples. You're an
educated man. A thinking man of many languages.  Initially skeptic, but that
faded fast with every impossible miracle you witnessed with your doubting eyes.

Time after time you witness one incredible feat after another from this man.
He hasn't yet claimed he is the messiah. But you think he could be, must be.
This man breaks natural law. Only God can do that. So God must be helping him.

Now if you were a skeptic and you wanted to expose a fake would you turn him in?
Yes! But afterwards wouldn't you feel better about getting this fake off the streets?
Weren't you protecting others from being duped? Wasn't it a good thing to betray
a liar? So when you took the money the last thing you would do is hang yourself.
But supposing you actually believed this guy. Saw he was for real. This man could
work miracles. You saw it with your own eyes.

But then your heart drops to the floor as you listen to him talk. It chokes and
becomes bitter. You expected a Moses. You wanted and needed a Moses. What else
can come from a God of wrath and punishment? You wanted to see the Romans suffer
as your people suffered. You wanted revenge. You wanted someone to kill Romans
soldiers as Moses killed Egyptian ones. As you listen to his message of forgiveness
your hope is ripped from your heart. Can this whimp be the messiah?

This Jesus is a whimp? Talking about loving your enemy? Forgiving them?
Impossible! NEVER! What is wrong with Jesus?

But you see this Jesus has never suffered himself yet. Well, not much. He was
never kicked around, never beaten, never had his life in jeopardy. He heals,
but never has needed healing himself. When was the last time he felt his own
pain? Pain is a good seed for hatred. You'll plant them in his heart. This
messiah has been sheltered too long. If he doesn't understand what the Jewish
people really need from him then you'll make him understand. You'll plant your
hatred of the Romans in his heart. Like it was planted in yours. You'll trick
him into killing the Romans for the good of the Jewish people. 

This Jesus will act all right. Just wait until he is arrested and beaten by
the Roman guards. Just wait until he feels the pain they'll inflict on him.
Then he'll surely act and surely win. Surely kill. 

 
A fake messiah would surely die in the hands of Roman soldiers. You know that.
So betraying Christ to them would be foolish. But a real messiah, should he get
mad enough, would surely bring down God's power and wrath on the Romans. Isn't
that what really is needed for your people? For his people! Yes, YOU HAVE to
ACT. To betray him. To USE HIM. You have no choice.

So you betray him. Turn him over to his enemies, your enemies, never expecting
his death, but that of the Romans. Any man who can raise the dead could not
die himself. Could he? How much easier is it to kill someone than to bring him
back from the dead? How easy would it be for Jesus to kill if can raise the dead?
So your turn him in.

And when he dies? Forgetting the promised resurrection what do you do?

It is easy.

You hang yourself. And so he did.

If Judas didn't believe beyond any and all doubts that Jesus was truly
the Son of God it wouldn't have been a tree branch he found, but a place
to spend his money. Most people who willingly betray another aren't
saddled by guilt. 

And if you had a chance to ask him, "How sure were you about Jesus being
for real? You were with him most of the time. Pass all the bullshit and hype.
What did you really think about him? Exactly how much did you really believe?"

And when he placed his head in the noose he might have answered you, "This much."