Judas Christianity
A dominant teaching in the Eastern Orthodox Church is that Judas wasn’t primarily interested in 30 pieces of silver. Rather, Judas was a hyper-patriotic, misguided disciple. In betraying Jesus, Judas was trying to force Jesus’ hand.
He believed that Jesus was the Messiah but did not believe in the way in which Jesus was the Messiah. He believed with all his being that when push came to shove Jesus would engage in victorious warfare and overthrow the Roman government. He believed that Jesus came to preserve his (Judas’) nationalistic, militaristic view of The Kingdom. He (Judas) was the one who would be least open to Jesus’ gospel of suffering. Judas forced Jesus’ hand because he believed that surely the Messiah would rise up and fight.
Judas let his own agenda stand in the way of Jesus and the cross! Judas believed that by turning Jesus over he was helping God to fulfill the plan that he (Judas) had been waiting for.
And yet Judas was wrong. This was not the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is always the way of the cross. The way of Jesus is always the way of loving enemies, serving enemies, and even dying at the hands of enemies.
The way of Jesus is always about manifesting the humble, other-oriented, servant love of God. It’s never about anything else. It’s never about us.
So…
Whenever we place Jesus in the middle of our plans, rather than submitting our plans to Jesus, we dabble in Judas Christianity.
Whenever we use Jesus to confirm our agendas rather than follow Jesus on the way to the cross, we dabble in Judas Christianity.
Whenever we betray the true Jesus for the sake of a Jesus that fits our common sense and usually happens to agree with us, we dabble in Judas Christianity.
How often to we trade Jesus Christianity for Judas Christianity because we think we will benefit from our “30 pieces of silver,” whatever that might be?
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About Me
Sharing the LOVE of God, shedding LIGHT on modern culture, and providing a MELODY to the unforced rhythms of grace.
Patrick J. Craig is an INTJ, coffee-shop loving, book-reading, NPR-listening, question-asking, student, musician, and lover of people.
