{"id":611,"date":"2015-04-16T15:27:06","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.risen.org.uk\/?p=611"},"modified":"2015-04-16T15:27:06","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:27:06","slug":"blog-april-16th-judas-why-did-he-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/?p=611","title":{"rendered":"Blog April 16th – \u201cJudas – why did he do it? \u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cesar_-_Jesus_and_Judas1\"<\/p>\n

“Lean on Me” (Bill Withers) Mustard Seed Soul Band from CD “Heart and Soul” recorded and produced by Ross Gill<\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s blog I said I had felt that Thomas had been given a \u201cbad press\u201d by being called \u201cDoubting Thomas\u201d for so many years.\u00a0 It was for this reason that in Risen!- The Musical<\/em> I tried to redress the balance and explain his reasons for not believing his friends when they told him that they had seen the Lord. (see blog April 9th<\/sup>)<\/p>\n

So what about Judas- how does Risen!- The Musical<\/em>\u00a0 portray his betrayal? \u00a0I am aware that some people feel a degree of sympathy for Judas wondering if it really was his fault if, as John\u2019s Gospel tells us, \u201cSatan entered into him.\u201d Others believe that disillusionment was Judas\u2019 motive.\u00a0 Judas may have expected Jesus to be a \u201cWarrior King\u201d who would rid the people of Roman occupation – when he realised that Jesus was in fact a \u201cServant King\u201d who even humbled Himself to wash the feet of his disciples – this may have taken Judas \u201cover the edge.\u201d \u00a0There is also the idea that by \u00a0betraying Jesus, Judas was simply making Him \u201cplay His hand\u201d and so, under the threat of death, \u00a0reveal Himself as the \u00a0long awaiting supernatural Messiah who would herald in a new age for the Jewish nation.<\/p>\n

When writing Risen!- The Musical<\/em> I decided it wisest to stay clear of conjecture \u00a0and instead\u00a0 stick only with what the Bible tells us.<\/p>\n

For example, I highlight \u00a0greed as part of the reason for Judas betraying Jesus- \u00a0for handing Him over to them Judas was given\u00a0 30 pieces of silver from the chief priests. (Matthew 26:15)\u00a0 Furthermore Judas\u2019 greed is alluded to by the disciple John who in chapter 12 of his Gospel tells us that Judas was a thief – he was keeper of the money bag and helped himself to what was put into it.<\/p>\n

Jealously is another reason I give for the betrayal – Judas may have resented the fact that Jesus was closest to John, James and Peter who had, for example, being given the privilege of being with \u00a0Jesus on the mountain when He was transfigured\u00a0 before them (Matthew 17) It certainly seems that Judas felt less close to Jesus than the others, referring to Jesus as \u201cRabbi – teacher\u201d rather than \u201cLord.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing we do know to be true is that as soon as Judas saw that Jesus was condemned he was filled with remorse and tried to return the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests exclaiming \u201cI have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.\u201d He then went away and hanged himself.\u00a0 (Matthew 27)\u00a0 In Risen!- The Musical<\/em> Judas\u2019 suicide is brilliantly portrayed by Paul Clements and the musical arrangement\u00a0 by \u00a0Joffy Girling is really very powerful.<\/p>\n

However I am not going to feature the Judas suicide track today – you will just have to buy the CD !! www.risenthemusical.com<\/a> or wait to download it from ITunes (sorry for the delay but ITunes have been asking for information we did not realise was necessary) Today instead I thought I would feature a cover song – it is \u201cLean on Me\u201d first sung by Bill Withers. It is a brilliant acapella version by Nicola, Fiona, Kat and Katy of the Mustard Seed Soul Band and comes from the Mustard Seed CD \u201cHeart and Soul.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Lean on Me” (Bill Withers) Mustard Seed Soul Band from CD “Heart and Soul” recorded and produced by Ross Gill In last week\u2019s blog I said I had felt that Thomas had been given a \u201cbad press\u201d by being called \u201cDoubting Thomas\u201d for so many years.\u00a0 It was for this reason that in Risen!- The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ken-shearsmiths-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":615,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions\/615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}