Betrayal is a human experience.  It is perhaps the most mysterious of experiences.  Why would Benedict Arnold, an early hero of the American Revolution, attempt to frustrate George Washington is a subject of never-ending conjecture.  The same is true of Judas Iscariot.  Why did he sell his savior for thirty pieces of silver?

Many will say simply this betrayal was needed to set the stage for Jesus’ martyrdom.  But, it is not enough to let things rest there for both in Jewish and Christian theology, free will is a God-given attribute of mankind.  Man can and must decide, and furthermore, be held responsible for those decisions.  This is seen in our judicial principles where trials assume rationality of actions.  Only in rare and obvious cases of insanity can it be used successfully as a defense. Thus, to say that Judas Iscariot’s action was ordained for a higher purpose is to deny free will.  No free will would make Judas a puppet without control or responsibility for his actions.  In a larger sense, it denies Jesus the moral turpitude he needs to forgive the sins of the world.  If all is pre-ordained, what is there to forgive?  So, for sin to be forgiven, both the sinner and the aggrieved must have free will.

In attempting to suggest an answer for Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, I have created a work of fiction.  Little is actually known of the circumstances surrounding this infamous act, and therefore, imagination must be used to fill in the holes of a suggested thesis.  Consequently, historians and theologians are asked to view this effort as an attempt to answer larger questions of free will and tragedy rather than provide a literal rendition of history.  In this regard, this story must be seen as a drama among living people dealing with the problems confronting them.

Some readers will see things in this story that do not agree with what they have been taught.  But, think about it.  What existed then were only twelve men and a number of women who were following a man whom they knew was special.  Did they think about the exact divinity of Jesus?  Did they worry whether Mary was a virgin?  The meaning of the crucifiction was unknown to them because it hadn’t occurred.  Rather, they were simply people wrapped up in events that were happening around them without a strong sense of their significance.  Consequently, they acted on in reaction to the immediate “here and now” that was presented to them.  And truly, isn’t this how most of us respond to the events of our own day?

Consequently, only after three hundred years of discussion amongst Gnostics, Coptics and most recently, the The Judas Gospel did the Nicene Creed come into being.  This creed may have been implicit in the times of Jesus; that could very well be.  However, it wasn’t recognized at the time of eleven ordinary men and one extraordinary betrayer.  Rather, they saw only the actions of one leader and how they affected each of them.  This story is a rendition of their times and events.