On evil and Judas... and me.

"Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the 12; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them. They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money. So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present."

(Luke 22:3-6)

Judas. The name has become a scourge and course of derision. "He's such a Judas!" folks sneer. Dante held the deepest part of hell for 3 people - one being Judas. It's easy to dump on him. How could someone possibly betray Jesus - especially one as close as one of his disciples?

It's a question that has intrigued people for centuries. Two artistic interpretations that stood out to me include... 1) Nikkos Kazanstakis' The Last Temptation of Christ, where Jesus asks Judas to turn him in, in order to get the whole "saving thing" going. 2) Another film (can't remember the title), where Judas betrayed Jesus, because he thought it would finally force him to spring into Savior Mode (by overthrowing the Roman authorities). Neither of these interpretations are supported by Scripture.

In Luke's account, we're told "Satan entered into Judas." Meaning, it wasn't all Judas' doing. Evil broke in to his world and changed everything. Just two verses earlier we're told that Jewish leaders were already "looking for a way to put Jesus to death." So death, destruction, and deceit were already in the air.

And then there's the previous story of Satan in Luke's gospel. In chapter 4, just after Jesus' baptism, he's led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. it's there that he's "tempted by the devil" for 40 days. After weathering the temptations, we're told "when the devil had finished every test, he departed form (Jesus) until a opportune time." So Judas became the "opportune time."

I'm not a "devil made me do it" kind of guy. I think we are responsible for our actions, and it's too easy to wash our hands by saying, 'the devil made me do it.' But evil exists. We see it all around us. And it's infectious. For Judas, he was somewhat discontented... and the desire of the authorities to "get" Jesus meshed with the "opportune time" in Judas' life.

So I need to be careful. To be self-aware of how I'm feeling and what I choose to do with my time. Evil is around. But so is good. I need to pay attention to choosing good and life-giving options.