According to history, Judas is considered to be the arch betrayer, who sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, and, thus stands for all time as a figure who is rejected and reviled. Yes?

However, he was also the son of a wealthy and powerful man, Simon Iscariot; who chose to renounce all the comforts of his lifestyle in order to follow Jesus Christ. He was chosen by Jesus to be one of the twelve Apostles and, unfortunately, apparently, also was chosen by God to be the one responsible for his Masters death.

In recent years, the role of Judas Iscariot as a betrayer in the Jesus story has been the subject of much discussion and controversy. Many theologians argue today that Judas should be "forgiven" for betraying Jesus. His betrayal was not of his own will, but rather his fate. Without Judas' betrayal, Jesus would not have made it to the cross to carry out his own ultimate fate as Messiah. In this sense, Judas is in fact a man like any of us, flawed, with good intent gone wrong; to be pitied and perhaps a man from whose actions we should learn.

Traditionally, it is argued that Judas betrayed Jesus as a result of his own sinful characteristics. Greed for money and political power overcame his desire to follow the word of the Lord. Some Gospels even imply that the devil entered Judas' soul causing him to betray Jesus. In any event, Judas was thought to have been of his own sound mind, willfully rejecting Jesus by betrayal as a result of his own selfish motives.

Well, as for being greedy... we have "circumstantial evidence" from the Gospel of Mark: In this Gospel it is clearly written, "Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him." (Mark, 14:10)

Here we find that in fact, Judas contacted the chief priests before knowing that he would receive a financial reward. I don't think it was greed... as a motivation.

Also, many Jews of the time were convinced that the true Messiah would not simply be a spiritual leader, but also free the land and people of Israel from Roman oppression. When Judas saw that Christ was not doing this, one view is that he felt it necessary to force Jesus' hand. Another line of thought is that perhaps because of Christ's pacifist stance, Judas lost his faith, and believed that while this was a great rabbi, and perhaps a great prophet from God, this was not the promised Redeemer.

Some think that Judas's reasoning was that if Jesus is the Messiah, all will be fine after his arrest, because "God will not abandon him". If Jesus does not prove to be a Messiah, Judas perhaps still believes it is proper to turn Jesus over to the authorities, because then he will have helped to save Israel from yet another "false prophet." You have to remember, at that time, these "prophets" were so frequent, so prevalent, that at first, especially, many thought Jesus was yet another one of these guys that had been "out in the sun too long"...

In a way, if you think about it, there were two men in agony, that night, in the Garden of Gesthename... Imagine the horror of watching your dearest friend, a man whom you admire, respect, and to whom you have devoted your entire life, being arrested by the authorities, taken away, to sure death.

Imagine the great sadness and despair you would feel as you watched your beloved Master being taken away. Then imagine not only these feelings, but that you also bore the agony of knowing the blame for your Teacher's pain and suffering was yours. Because of your actions, misguided efforts, or just plain faltering faith and momentary flash of disbelief - your best friend is going to die, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. And nothing he will do, to help himself...

What picture would Jesus paint of his chosen friend, Judas? He was an Apostle, one of the special chosen few, after all. Would He, maybe, express how he was a loyal and faithful disciple and friend? Maybe Jesus would tell how, although his common sense made him constantly question Jesus' mission, Judas's love, respect, and faith allowed him to continually believe and follow. 

We need to remember... this is Jesus we're talking about... not some human that can be fooled. And Jesus deliberately chose his Apostles... there were thousands of disciples, followers, that came, went, hung around for a while... but the Apostles were hand-picked by the Lord, and were with him always, for years. Christ picked Judas. And knew from the start, how it would end...

All of the Gospels emphasize the call of the Apostles. They were not just a group of men who were attracted to Jesus more than the others. They were appointed to be His special followers from the beginning. He chose them; they did not choose Him.

Christ gave them powers given to none of the others. They had authority to preach in His name; they could cast out devils; He even gave them the power to work miracles. He gave them the authority to decide who was to be admitted into His kingdom, the Church, and who was to be excluded. Judas, as one of the original Apostles, had these powers too!

In the end, Christ died. He rose, and obtained glorious victory over sin. And Judas dies, too, wracked with guilt. Horrified. Destroyed.

Some believe that Christ even spoke to Judas about what he was supposed to do, or even asked him to do it. Recently, there was a lot of noise generated about a supposed "gospel" of Judas - an apparently gnostic writing that stated that Christ had secret talks with Judas, and considered him "special". I'm sure Jesus had private talks with all his Apostles, including Judas, at one time or another, over those three years of walking the lonely roads.

I myself have a hard time believing that a man who gave up everything to follow Jesus for three years would suddenly betray him for a handful of silver... for one thing, Judas's family had money... he didn't need the money... for another... seriously, could you really imagine visiting Jesus for even an afternoon, and then betraying Him? Never mind actually living with, and traveling with Him for three entire years, and doing such a thing?? Maybe they did speak about it, and maybe Christ did actually ask Judas to hand Him over to the authorities...

So, I wonder... was Judas really evil? In the end - was his sin so much the betrayal - which had to happen, in some way. The Lord had to be handed over, the Sacrifice of the Lamb had to occur. If it wasn't Judas, then some other would have done it. God's plans always get fulfilled.

So many of us have done evil, and asked for forgiveness of so many sins - is there one sin that is really worse than another, and is "unforgivable"?

Or is it only the sin that is never un-repented? The sin that never seeks forgiveness?

Peter denied the Lord three times on that same night! He denied he even knew Christ, and ran away! Yet, he came back, and asked for forgiveness, and took his place as the leader of the Apostles.

Think about Paul! Here you have a Pharisee Jew, Roman Citizen, hunting down and killing what he's calling "Jewish heretics" - and BAM!! He's brought face to face with his error, and his sin... Jesus appears to him and asks him "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME?" - not my followers, but ME - and instead of destroying himself with guilt, Paul  becomes the most beloved of all the preachers of the Good News! Can you imagine the hatred and suspicion he would have had to overcome?? It boggles the mind! But here is someone who really "got" the message. And asked for, and received absolution.

What could God have done with even such a man as Judas, if he had only turned to God, instead of despair? Anything, of course!

So, the way I see it - I don't think Judas' sin wasn't greed, or pride, or trying to force Jesus' hand, or mistaking an earthly kingdom for a spiritual kingdom. I don't think he lost faith in Jesus. I don't think you can turn over a man like Jesus, after seeing what Judas had seen, and expect him to call down hosts of angels to save himself and throw Rome out of Palestine, without having faith! His sin, in the end, was to give in to despair, and to lose faith in God's endless ocean of Mercy.

We can never lose sight of Mercy - The Mercy of Christ is boundless. No matter what our sin, no matter what - just ask for forgiveness - let God's grace pour down upon you, and heal you - and most of all - forgive yourself! Don't be like Judas, and give in to despair!