The Devil Made the World While God Was Sleeping

Judas always got a bad rap. People use him as a negative frame of reference. He betrayed Jesus, he sold him out for his 30 silver, and all that. I even remember once seeing a cartoon about Jesus around Christmas or Easter that portrayed Judas as a money-grubbing asshole. If ever there was a guy treated unfairly by history, it's Judas. If anything, Judas deserves as much respect as Jesus. Sure, Jesus had the higher status, but that only matters if you care about status. Which I don't.

The whole basis of Christianity is what they did to Jesus. The religion as a whole, whether Roman-Catholic, Arian, Protestant, et cetera, was built around his sacrifice. It’s supposed to be the greatest sacrifice ever made for humanity. He died on the cross for our sins. Then, 2 days later, not 3 unless they used a different calendar, he rose from the dead. Huge miracle, that. He rose from the dead, had the holes in his hands, hung around to show people he was back, and then ascended to heaven.And that’s where it gets me. Let’s assume that Jesus was who Christianity says he was. He wasn’t just ignorant to what he was, he knew who and what he was. The son of God. And, as such, he knew what was going to happen to him, he knew he was gonna get crucified, he was gonna die at the hands of those he was trying to save. It’s all very sad. But…then he goes to heaven. For eternity. And he knew this, too. This…this is where I start having problems with it. Because the whole dread surrounding death, for every human no matter how devout, is that ultimate uncertainty. We can believe what will happen after we die, but you never know. Jesus knew. He didn’t have that little bit of doubt that every human throughout existence has had. He didn’t have the issue with death that we all have. Not only that, but he knew he was going to heaven. He made his sacrifice with full, doubtless knowledge that he was going to get the reward of all rewards when he was done. Now, who wouldn’t go through 12 hours of blinding torture if you knew THAT was headed your way? Greatest sacrifice ever made? Maybe. But maybe not.

Then…we also have Judas. Judas is supposedly the ultimate sinner. He betrayed Jesus, and was indirectly responsible for his ultimate demise. Yeah, so? That means he was also indirectly responsible for the central event of the whole of Christianity. Had Judas not done what he did, it’s possible that there would be no crucifixion. Not of Jesus at least. He was part of the plan because he was needed; both for God’s plan and that of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. And, if you go by certain unearthed texts of the bible, not only did he play a vital and central role in the creation of Christianity, he did so at the behest of Jesus himself. Hell, even if you only go by the bible, Judas was nigh his right hand man. So Judas does what has to be done. Then, out of pure unabashed grief and regret, he hangs himself. Sure, a probably hell-worthy trespass, but so is murder, and Moses went to heaven. Judas, if you read into ANY Christian mythology, is at the lowest most torturous spot in Hell. For, basically, doing what had to be done. For doing God’s will. Because God sent Jesus to be crucified. Judas did what had to be done, played a more active role in the crucifixion than even Jesus himself who just sat there and took punishment and alleged betrayal, and got punished for it. The ultimate punishment. Now there’s some loss for you. So, really, didn’t Judas make just as big a sacrifice towards Christianity as Jesus? He did what God wanted him to do and got sent to Hell for it. Jesus did the same thing and gets an eternity of ultimate bliss.

The question becomes, what makes a sacrifice? I think there has to be a certain sense of loss. Jesus lost nothing. Yeah, he died, but he didn’t have that stigma about death, why should he care about dying. Yeah, he was tortured, but all life is suffering. He died and went to heaven. He died for our sins, but he ultimately lost nothing. And if there’s no loss, is there really a sacrifice? Why is it that Jesus gets praise and deification (in the less literal sense) and glory when Judas is the one who lost everything? I can only assume that the people who looked back on the situation and wrote about it never felt loss a day in their life. Sure, you could say that one could be rewarded for their sacrifice, and Jesus' glory and hallelujas are his reward, but isn't a sacrifice greater if there is no reward? Who's the more altruistic person, the one who turns in the wallet for the reward money or the one who does it because it's the right thing to do? Who deserves more praise? You do something for the greater good, that's all that matters. Jesus did this, but so did Judas. If nothing else, it puts them on equal ground, because at the end of the day, those actions toward something better and bigger than any of us are all that matter. Even if what has to be done is something horrible.