Yes, it is true: I am a thief. I help myself to the money bag. But are we so different?
While the poor starve, you hoard your wealth. When those in need hold out their hands for scraps, you make a fist. While the poor live in alleyways and on streets reeking of garbage, you dine in luxury and sleep on sheets made of the finest fabric. When the poor cry out, you pass by on the other side of the street.
No, we are not so different.
Are you not a disciple of the Teacher? Did he not give you his Spirit to help and heal: to bind up their wounds, restore their sight, free them from the prison of poverty? He entrusted me with the money bag. He has entrusted you with his words and character—his very Spirit. And you have squandered it on yourself. Right the Teacher was to say of you:
“I was a stranger outside your door and you did not take me in. I was naked and you did not clothe me. I was sick and you did not bind my wounds and offer healing to me. I was in prison and you did not visit me.”
No, we are not so different.
Perhaps you will say of me, “What does Judas, that devil of Satan, know of the Teacher’s ways? He is a traitor!”
Perhaps I am of the devil. What of it? Did the Teacher himself not choose me to serve as an example? Am I not the first of many “followers of the Teacher” to pursue the riches of the world rather than his righteousness? In one hand I hold a piece of bread the Teacher offered. In the other thirty silver coins. The conclusion of the matter is that I love neither—only despise myself. Right the Teacher was to say that we cannot serve Yahweh and wealth. We will hate the one, and love the other or hold to the one, and despise the other.
No, we are not so different.
Judge me if you wish. Your words cannot reach me in this place of despair. On the Day of Judgement I will stand for my crimes. On the Day of Judgement you will stand for every careless word spoken and be judged with the judgement you rendered. I expressed remorse for my actions. I sought to make restitution for my offenses. Where is your confession, your repentance, your restitution?
Perhaps you will quote these words to me: “I am saved by grace.” If so, then why do you sin with impunity as though the Teacher’s death on the cross means nothing to you.
No, we are not so different.
My name is Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, and I was a follower of the Teacher.
Who do you follow?