Holy Covenant,

At our Maundy Thursday worship service last week, many of us gathered around tables shaped like a cross, sharing in a simple meal, stories, and sacred worship. It was a tender, powerful night, one that drew us closer to Jesus and to one another as we remembered that final meal he shared with his disciples and the events that would follow.

Earlier this week, a member of our church had asked me if I have ever seen the movie Jesus Christ Superstar and in all honesty I haven’t. The reason they asked though was because in the movie Judas is not portrayed as a villain, but as someone caught in a role he cannot escape, perhaps even someone being used by God.

Interestingly their mention of that prompted a conversation between us about how Judas has been understood and maybe even misunderstood throughout Christian history.

Most of us have grown up with the idea of Judas as the ultimate betrayer, the disciple who turned Jesus over to the authorities for a bag of silver coins. But there is another story. A forgotten one. One that was literally buried for centuries.

In the 1970s, an ancient manuscript surfaced in Egypt, called The Gospel of Judas. It’s part of a group of texts often referred to as the Gnostic Gospels, writings that didn’t make it into what we now know as the New Testament. For centuries, this gospel was lost, and it wasn’t until 2006 that a full translation was published, allowing biblical scholars and historians such as Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and others to dig into it (no pun intended!)

What makes The Gospel of Judas so intriguing is that it reimagines Judas’ role. Rather than being portrayed as someone who betrayed Jesus, Judas is shown as Jesus’ most trusted disciple, the only one who truly understands Jesus’ teaching. In this gospel, Jesus entrusts Judas with a secret spiritual knowledge and asks Judas to hand him over, not as an act of betrayal, but as a fulfillment of a divine plan. Yes, that’s right, the very act we’ve long seen as treachery is reframed as an act of a disciple’s obedience and spiritual insight.

Several scholars have explored this newly revealed text further, including James M. Robinson (The Secrets of Judas), Bart D. Ehrman (The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot), and Herbert Krosney (The Lost Gospel). These works on the Gospel of Judas remind us that early Christianity was not as monolithic as we are led to believe, but a vibrant, contested, and diverse movement filled with different interpretations of who Jesus was and what his life, death, and resurrection meant.

I think these newly discovered texts, while not part of our Bible, invite us to wonder. To ask deeper questions. To recognize that the early church wrestled with some of the same stories and questions we have in different ways, and that there’s always more to learn and be revealed when it comes to our faith.

So as we head into this Easter season, as we continue to reflect on the life of Jesus and his resurrection, maybe we can also hold space for Judas too, not just as a villain, but as a mystery. As someone who, in at least one ancient Christian text, was not a betrayer, but as someone Jesus could have possibly trusted most.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev. Christopher Czarnecki

Holy Covenant UCC

Senior Pastor

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