What Would Judas Do?

In Peter Rollin’s book, The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief he posited the concept of a parody of the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) with What Would Judas Do. One has to wonder, if one is given to such things, what you would do if faced with a radical version of your own religion. Of course, our own self-bred piety would quickly jump to the conclusion that we would not do as Judas did. But, not so quick. While Judas had walked with Jesus for his almost ten years of ministry, he apparently grew weary of this new form of belief that was updating if not outright replacing his old form of belief. Judas lived in one of what Phyllis Tickle calls a “hinge” time in history. Nope, not all was well for the Jews with Romans in town, but on the other hand, they did get to go about a pretty normal life. Yep, there were the rebels like the Zealots, who one of his friends Simon had been a part of. But, for the most part, the social and religious cultures were livable. But, Judas became restless and in one final decision, he showed his true colors and reneged on the Kingdom message of Jesus.

It’s easy to ridicule Judas, but remember his world as he knew it was turned upside down. He was asked to change the story that he and his family had lived in for centuries. Those of us living in USAmerica, we live in a story that is profoundly American. While it has been influenced by the Judeo-Christian motif, it is not, nor never has it ever been, Christian. We have lived in a version of Christianity not only influenced by Enlightenment’s Modernity, but also influenced by a different covenant. I like the American covenant, i.e., the Constitution, but it should not be confused with the Jesus Covenant. They are not one and the same. We, like Judas, are being faced with an increasing tension with what we have lived in and what we should be living in. So, what are you going to do? Betray the church as it has come to be, in favor of one that is more radical than it has been for many years. Does radical mean weird? Wouldn’t being truly human be weird in a good way and not in a weird way? If you were Judas, living in the present form of Christianity, what would you do?

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