Judas Saved

Last night in our Education for Ministry class we talked about the Ascension of Jesus.

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said, When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people. (When it says, He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) - Ephesians 4:7-10

In today's reading, we are reminded of something we say in the Creed, that Jesus descended to the dead before rising again.

Where do you think he went and why?

Some say he went to free the slaves of Hell, to bring salvation to all, living and dead.  When we talked about this in class, I was reminded that a few years ago we were told of a boy in Confirmation class who said Jesus went down to hell to find Judas.

I like that.

I think Jesus would have been very upset that Judas would kill himself.

The Gospels tell of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, and one Gospel, the Gospel of John, paints the picture in very dark terms, showing Judas as evil and a thief.

But Judas, like all of us, was loved, and he should have known that no matter what he did, Jesus would accept him back.

So, I think the decision to take his own life rather than continue one more day in the faith of the Resurrection was Judas' true failure.

All he had to do was hang in there a little while longer, and he could have been embraced by the risen Lord.

But he chose to end it.

And so, Jesus may have gone to save him.

It is a powerful image, one that holds the promise of redemption for all.

So, why don't we tell the story that way?  Why don't we focus on turning back and finding our salvation, rather than on failure and punishment?

I guess we are influenced by the Gospel writers who couldn't reconcile the betrayal with Christ's redeeming love and God's grace.

We are children of a forgiving God.

We can do nothing that causes God to abandon us.  All we can do is abandon God.

We will never know what could have happened if Judas had returned to the risen Christ and sought his forgiveness.

But we can hold out and seek forgiveness ourselves when we are lost or frightened or have made bad choices.

Jesus is ready to come to be with us.  He will follow us to the depths and back again if we ask him to.

And he may even do it if we don't.

More to come...