Judas Gospel

I assume everyone's heard by now that they've uncovered a new gospel that's been dubbed the "Judas Gospel." This gospel apparently exonerates Judas by indicating that he was actually following Jesus' instructions when he turned Jesus in to the Jewish authorities.

I have always had an inkling that Judas wasn't quite as bad a guy as he is often portrayed. After all, Jesus picked him as one of the twelve. Are we to believe that Jesus was a bad judge of character?

Actually, this got me thinking about the depiction of Judas in the play Jesus Christ Superstar, where he comes across as a somewhat sympathetic, if misled, individual. But for his one mistake, he seems no worse and perhaps much better than most of the rest of us.

That led me to pull out the recording of the broadway production, which I listen to around Easter every year to remind myself of the days when I called myself a Christian. I listened to the entire production last night and was deeply moved, as I always am, by it. But for all the hypocrisy among many who call themselves "Christians", myself included, I might still be one.

In any event, a re-run of the play confirmed my earlier impression that the depiction of Judas there is not entirely inconsistent with that reported in the "new" gospel.