The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot Read online

  Matt 28:11–15

  8. However, they were losing their authority with the people, and could do nothing about those Jews who were forsaking the faith of their ancestors to join a new sect, which believed that Jesus had risen from the dead.

  9. Peter had become the leader of these converts and was claiming that the spirit of God had been given to this small group in Jerusalem.

  see

  Acts 2:2–13

  10. Judas could not accept that Jesus had risen from the dead, and he parted company with Peter.

  11. He held on to John the Baptist’s belief that Jesus was a holy man, even a prophet, who followed in the tradition of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel.

  12. But Judas no longer accepted that Jesus was the chosen one, destined to rescue the Jews from their oppressors.

  13. Judas continued to believe that YHWH was their god, and Israel the chosen people.

  14. Had not Moses prophesied, Cursed is anyone who hangs from a tree?

  Deut 21:23

  15. Because of all that had taken place, Judas was now a marked man, with no friends to protect him.

  16. Whenever he showed his face in the Synagogue, the Elders rejected him, as they did not wish to be reminded who had led them to Jesus.

  17. Shunned by the Jewish leaders and abandoned by the followers of Jesus, after thirty days Judas departed from the Holy City and set out on the long journey to Khirbet Qumran.

  18. There he joined the community of Essenes, who lived in a fortress on the shores of the Salt Sea and were committed to spending the rest of their days in the solitude of the desert.

  19. Although the Essenes detested the Romans, they despised the Sadducees with equal passion.

  20. They considered the Sadducees had forfeited their moral authority to be the chosen leaders of Israel by colluding with the pagans to ensure that they remained in office and retained their vested privileges.

  21. The Essenes also disapproved of the Pharisees, who they believed were no longer interpreting the fine traditions of Israel.

  22. In contrast, the Essenes devoted their lives to re-enacting the desert experience of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

  23. They awaited the coming of the Messiah, who would surely vanquish all God’s enemies before ascending the throne on that great and terrible day when the kingdom of Israel would be restored to the Jewish people.

  24. Although Judas devoted the rest of his life to working with the Essenes, not a day passed when he did not fall on his knees and mourn the death of Jesus.

  Chapter 25

  The sins of the father

  1. I had not seen my father since I was a child of eight years, when he left for Jerusalem as a trusted disciple of Jesus of Nazareth.

  2. I would never have discovered his fate had not a wandering preacher who was passing through Kerioth told me that he had come across my father while visiting Khirbet Qumran.

  3. Within days, and with the blessing of my family, I left to make the long journey across the Judean desert to the Salt Sea, so that I might be reunited with my father.

  4. The Essenes reluctantly allowed me to enter their gates, but not before I had been able to convince them that I was the first born of Judas Iscariot.

  5. When I first saw my father I did not recognize him, for he had grown old and did not know me.

  6. Once Abba had accepted that I was his son, he warned me that I could only stay for a month and a day, unless I was willing to enrol with the Essenes, and spend the rest of my life in the solitude of the desert preparing for the coming of the Messiah.

  [xxxv]

  7. It was not until the third day that I asked my father to explain why he had not returned to Kerioth to defend his good name.

  8. Abba believed that his very presence would continually remind all around him of the unwitting role he had played in the death of Jesus.

  9. He could also never forget Peter’s parting words: It would be better for you not to have been born.

  Mark 14:21;

  Matt 26:24

  10. Once he had told me of that final encounter with Peter, he made no further reference to his days as a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth.

  11. He only seemed interested to talk about our family and what had become of them.

  12. I did not answer all the questions Abba put to me, as I had no desire to acquaint him with the fact that even distant relatives were daily reminded that they shared the same blood as Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had betrayed Jesus.

  13. I did tell him that my mother had given up her spirit at the age of two score years and three, after two of my brothers had fled from Israel to live in far-off lands.

  14. Later, I admitted that none of my sisters was married, and I had yet to produce a son.

  15. Abba’s only response was that the sins of the father would surely be visited on the third and fourth generation.

  Deut 5:9

  16. With each new revelation, Abba became more and more desolate.

  17. For days, no words passed his lips, and I feared for his life.

  18. It was not until the eleventh day that he began to speak again, and then only to acquaint me with his work during those years of self-imposed exile at Khirbet Qumran.

  19. He and his fellow Essenes had laboured night and day to build a library of scrolls that would ensure that the history of the Jewish people would not be lost, however long the pagan invaders inhabited the Holy Land.

  20. Moreover, the Romans had become more and more authoritarian after their informers had warned them of a possible uprising among the people.

  [xxxvi]

  21. Titus had issued an edict declaring that all establishments that refused to open their gates to the Romans were to be razed to the ground and their inhabitants sentenced to death for defying the authority of Caesar.

  see

  Josephus,

  Jewish War

  VI. 323–355

  [xxxvii]

  22. Legions of Roman forces swept through the land of Israel carrying out the Supreme Commander’s orders.

  23. Following the sacking of Jerusalem, Judas told me that he feared it would not be long before the Romans crossed the desert and turned their attention to Khirbet Qumran.

  24. Whenever my father spoke, it was only to talk of our ancient past, and I was beginning to despair that he would ever refer to those days when he had been a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth.

  25. That changed when he asked if I had any knowledge of what had become of the other eleven disciples.

  26. I told him of a document that had been circulating among the Christians in Antioch and another that had appeared more recently in Ephesus.

  27. My father listened to these revelations in disbelief.

  28. Judas poured scorn on the writer who claimed that he had seen Jesus walk on water, and another who suggested that while at a wedding feast in Cana he had watched the Master turn water into wine. These things never happened he declared.

  see

  Matt 14:22–27;

  John 2:1–10

  [xxxviii]

  29. While he pondered these affairs I remained silent.

  30. It was not until he pressed me again that I reluctantly admitted that another gospel was being spread abroad reporting that Peter had given a direction to say that Judas’ name should be struck from the list of those disciples who had originally been chosen by Jesus.

  31. He was to be replaced by one Matthias, who had been selected by lot, and would in future be numbered as one of the twelve apostles.

  see

  Acts 1:21–26

  [xxxix]

  32. ‘Why, why?’ he demanded to know.

  33. ‘Because one of the apostles recorded that Judas had hanged himself.’

  see

  Matt 27:5

  34. Judas responded immediately: ‘If only he had remembered their traditional upbringing, he would have recalled that no pious Jew would ever consider taking his own life.’

  [xl]