Judas's Carrot (Judas Iscariot)

Judas Iscariot, the timeless villain? Or exaggerated sinner, sentenced to be forever remembered by his darkest moments?

It seems that so many are quick to blame Judas for Jesus death, and they have good reason to do so, however the utter disgust that he is viewed with disturbs me. Judas was a man! We all sin! The unfortunate fact for this particular man is that his sins will forever be remembered in writing.

I think that one of the reasons that there is such universal dislike for Judas is due to the fact that nearly all can see themselves within him. And they hate it.

It's ironic, but as humans, we are often appalled by those who possess character flaws similar to our own. It is the thief who is most angry when stolen from, the liar when misled, the adulterer when cheated upon, and so forth. Perhaps there is some truth to the statement that we hate Judas, because we can relate to him. We are afraid of the simple truth-- we are just like him. That we are all capable of condemning even the Savior of this world. And we hate him. We hate him for opening our eyes to the horrible deeds that we are capable of.

Judas was a disciple. To all around him, he was a fine example, however as we now know, his heart was not always in the right place. As the disciple responsible for the money, he often succumbed to greed and withdrew some for himself. In fact, it was greed that led him to hand over Jesus as well.

Who among us has never succumbed to greed?

Let us try to embrace him, as we would a brother in need. Embrace him because we are alike. Embrace him because we are no better.

-because we're not.