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Og · 01-03-2007, 12:34 PM

I'm curious about our interpretation of judas' role in the events of the crucifiction. First, it was necessary for this act to fulfill the prophecies and for jesus to demonstrate his final act of transcendance.

When at the last supper, when jesus said "he who I hand this piece of bread to will betray me" was he indicating that he knew that someone would betray him or was he giving a command to one of his most spiritually advanced disciples?

The act of crucifiction was necessary for completion in the jewish tradition and it's clearly the pivotal symbol of christianity (easter being the biggest holiday where churches have the highest attendance).

The story of the cruicifiction itself even contains the opposites of good and evil when you look at the good theif and the bad theif on either side of jesus (in the middle). It shows jesus back in the garden of eden at the fruit of the pairs of opposites of good and evil. This ultimate symbol of christ's message of transcendence of sin was not possible without judas' action.

I once played the character of JohnTheBaptist/Judas in a production of Godspell (a 70s version of the gospel according to matthew) and really enjoyed the way that the author of the play had placed these two characters together as very deeply spiritual people and how the transformation throughout the play was virtually non-existant as they always stood out as the counterpart to jesus. Jesus' shadow, so to speak.

John the baptist baptizes jesus and judas delivers him to the crucifiction with a kiss.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

01-03-2007, 12:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
Og Campbellite Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Northern, VA Posts: 2,672	Judas I'm curious about our interpretation of judas' role in the events of the crucifiction. First, it was necessary for this act to fulfill the prophecies and for jesus to demonstrate his final act of transcendance. When at the last supper, when jesus said "he who I hand this piece of bread to will betray me" was he indicating that he knew that someone would betray him or was he giving a command to one of his most spiritually advanced disciples? The act of crucifiction was necessary for completion in the jewish tradition and it's clearly the pivotal symbol of christianity (easter being the biggest holiday where churches have the highest attendance). The story of the cruicifiction itself even contains the opposites of good and evil when you look at the good theif and the bad theif on either side of jesus (in the middle). It shows jesus back in the garden of eden at the fruit of the pairs of opposites of good and evil. This ultimate symbol of christ's message of transcendence of sin was not possible without judas' action. I once played the character of JohnTheBaptist/Judas in a production of Godspell (a 70s version of the gospel according to matthew) and really enjoyed the way that the author of the play had placed these two characters together as very deeply spiritual people and how the transformation throughout the play was virtually non-existant as they always stood out as the counterpart to jesus. Jesus' shadow, so to speak. John the baptist baptizes jesus and judas delivers him to the crucifiction with a kiss. Anyway, just some thoughts.