SOUL SEARCH

THE CHRIST WE CHOOSE: On the Gospel of Judas

Fr. Johnny C. Go, S.J., School Director

Mary the Queen Parish

30 April 2006

Posted Tuesday, 02-May-2006 3:07 PM

     I’d like to begin by showing you a picture.  This is a fragment of papyrus that is 1,700 years old dating back to 300 A.D.  Discovered in the desert of Egypt, this fragment is the last page of a leather-bound papyrus manuscript.  If we can read Coptic, a language formerly spoken in Egypt, we will see that the last words read “The Gospel of Judas.” 

     There’s been a lot of press recently about the so-called Gospel of Judas.  In some circles it has been the current rage since the news conference in Washington when the National Geographic Society announced the discovery of this ancient document.  Aside from leading papers all over the world, numerous books on the subject have been published.  Some of you may even have watched the special on the National Geographic channel.

     I got a number of emails inquiring about the Gospel of Judas.  Since I missed the TV special, I decided to do some research on the subject.  Thanks to the wonder of Google, not only was I able to read several articles on the subject, but I was also able to browse through the English translation of the actual text. 

     I thought it would be interesting to talk about the Gospel of Judas today for two reasons:  First, some people are feeling a little confused because of the content of this document.  This new discovery has raised questions about their faith, probably in the same way that Dan Brown’s bestselling novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” has managed to do.  I’m sure we’re going to have more of that once the movie version starring Tom Hanks is released next month. 

     The second reason why it will be worthwhile to talk about it is that I think it’s going to be interesting and informative to compare what the Gospel of Judas says to what our Gospel reading today actually says.

     What struck me about the Gospel of Judas is the way it portrays both Judas and Jesus.

     First, the portrait of Judas Iscariot: In the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Judas is understandably portrayed as a reviled traitor.   But in the Gospel named after him, Judas Iscariot is portrayed as the most intelligent and most favored disciple of our Lord.  Moreover, it is Jesus who urges him to arrange for his arrest and death.  When Judas worries about the bad reputation that he will get if he agrees, Jesus promises him that he will exceed all the other disciples.  And so according to this version of the story, not only is Judas not a traitor, but he is actually being obedient and in fact, even heroic—willing to sacrifice his reputation for the sake of collaborating with his master.

     This version is radically different from our usual understanding of those events in the life of our Lord.  Many theologians have raised the question—not without sympathy—about how culpable Judas actually was and how much he should be held responsible for what happened.  However, to claim as this gospel does, that Jesus himself ordered Judas to arrange for his arrest and death is going a little too far.  What is even more disturbing is the reason why Jesus allegedly gave this order to Judas.  In this gospel, Jesus commands Judas to be the agent of his death because he must, in his words, “sacrifice the man that clothes me.”  What this means is that Jesus must get rid of his mortal body to liberate the true spiritual self and divine being within Jesus. 

     But equally disturbing is the phrase that Jesus uses:  “sacrifice the man that clothes me.”  He refers to his body as something that’s not part of his self, as though it was only an attire, a costume.  This is completely contrary to the heart of our faith, which is the Incarnation—that the “Word became flesh.”   The earthly life of our Lord was no costume party.  He was completely human while remaining completely divine, and his body was very much part of himself.

     Here the Gospel of Judas shows its true colors as a Gnostic gospel—a gospel written by a group that believed in Gnosticism.  The Gnostics considered the human body as a prison and believed that only a secret knowledge will enable people to return to their purely spiritual origin.  Gnosticism has long been condemned by the Church as a heresy.  In fact, the only known reference to the gospel of Judas is found in a text called “Against Heresies” written by St. Iranaeus in the year 180, where he wrote: “[The Gnostics] produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they call the Gospel of Judas.”

     What is truly disturbing—and dangerous—about the Gospel of Judas is not its portrayal of Judas, but its portrayal of Jesus.  First of all, in the scene of the Last Supper, Jesus is shown laughing. There’s nothing wrong with Jesus laughing, but he isn’t just laughing because he’s happy or he’s enjoying a good joke.  He’s laughing at his disciples’ mistaken notions about God.   The Jesus in the Gnostic Gospel of Judas is condescending towards his disciples because he alone has the secret knowledge necessary for salvation.

     Secondly, Jesus is portrayed as a being of pure spirit who wants nothing more than to be liberated from his body and from the material world.  Now, compare this Jesus with the Jesus in our Gospel reading today.  After rising from the dead, he returns not as a ghost, not as pure spirit, but body-and-soul.  In fact, in almost all his resurrection appearances, as he does in this one, he asks his disciples to touch him, especially his wounds.  Now, that’s the complete opposite of the image of Jesus portrayed in the Gospel of Judas who wants to have nothing to do with his body and from the material world. The Jesus in our Gospel reading not only decides to keep his body after his resurrection, but he also decides to keep all his wounds!

     Another interesting thing that Jesus does in some of his resurrection appearances is he eats with his disciples—his way of proving that he remains human and material.  I can’t imagine the Jesus of the Judas gospel as even conceiving of getting near any food after his liberation from this world!

     Not only that, while the other Jesus considers the body an obstacle to salvation, this Jesus regards the body as the means to it. That is why before his death, he instituted the Eucharist to make sure to give his disciples—and ourselves—a way of having an enduring access to his physical body.

     So where does all this bring us?  I think, we need to ask ourselves two questions.  The first is:  “Is the Gospel of Judas authentic?”  All evidence seems to indicate that it is an authentic manuscript.  In the New York Times, the executive vice president of the geographic society, Mr. Terry Garcia, was quoted as saying that “the manuscript is considered by scholars and scientists to be the most significant ancient, non-biblical text to be found in the past 60 years.”  He adds that after extensive tests of radiocarbon dating, ink analysis, and every other careful and thorough examination, the manuscript “has been authenticated as a genuine work of ancient Christian apocryphal literature.” So the answer to the first question seems to be a resounding “Yes!”

     The second question is:  “Is the story true?”   You see, just because a manuscript is authentic—meaning, it truly dates back to ancient times—doesn’t necessarily mean that what it says is true.  Anyone can come up with a manuscript in the early years of Christianity.  In fact, the Gospel of Judas is only one of many texts discovered in the last 65 years, such as the similarly Gnostic gospels of Thomas, Philip, and Mary Magdalene.

     To say that it is true just because it is authentic is just like saying anyone today can make all sorts of claims and post them on the Internet.  Just because it’s an authentic posting doesn’t mean the claim is true.  So can we say that the message of the Gospel of Judas, so radically contrary to the message of the four gospels, is true?

     Obviously, my own answer to that is “no.”  But unlike the first question, we can’t prove that.  The question of whether the Gospel of Judas is authentic or not is a matter of science.  But the question of whether its story and claims are true—that’s a matter of faith.  And as in all matters of faith, we have to make the choice.

     The bottom line is, which Jesus Christ do you prefer?  Which Christ do you choose to believe in and to follow?  The Christ who considers his body nothing more than a costume and a prison and believes that his body and this world are but obstacles to salvation that must be overcome.  Or do you choose the Christ whom we’ve gotten to know from the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?  The Christ who is human in every way, and chooses to continue to stay human even after his resurrection. The Christ who has no allergy to anything material, to the body or to this world, but on the contrary, embraces this world with all its sweat, all the blood, all the muck in order to transform it.

     Think about it, and think about it carefully because the Christ you choose will affect the way you look at God, and the way you treat yourself, your body, and the world.  The Christ you choose will affect the way you live in this world of ours.

     Be careful the Christ you choose.

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