The Orthodox Heretic: The Mission of Judas

This tale is about a dream that Judas has. It begins with Judas seeing himself and the other disciples sharing the Passover meal. Then Judas sees himself meeting with the religious authorities and planning to betray Jesus with a kiss in the garden. Then he sees the events of the garden playing out along with the arrest, trial, beating and crucifixion of Jesus taking place. But the dream did not end there, it continued with Judas seeing the sorrow that would afflict him and his subsequent suicide. He was then in a courtroom with the disciples with them hurling insults and condemnation at him. But it didn't end there either. He saw the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and how his message would spread to the whole world. He woke up in a cold sweat and remembered a few teachings that Jesus had recently given to his disciples. In this teaching Jesus talked about the one who wants to gain their life must first lose it. As he contemplated these words a sadness began to well up in his heart because he now knew what was his destiny in life.

This is of course a fictitious scenario that paints the betrayal of Jesus in a new light. The idea is that without Judas following through with his side of the betrayal, none of it would have happened. Of course there is way more to this than I have the time and or mental capacity to get into now. If you would like to dive into this, I suggest that you check out Rollins' book "The Fidelity of Betrayal." This is an interesting notion that betrayal can be used for a good thing. My head has been swimming ever since I finished his book about a year ago. Check it out!