The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot

12. Some continued to ask: Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

John 1:46

13. While others were heard to say: Search the scriptures and you will not find a prophet who will arise from Galilee.

John 7:52

14. Even more discouraging was that some of the Elders were circulating rumours that Jesus had been conceived in sin.

15. The Pharisees, as well as the religious leaders of Israel, held to their traditional belief: We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, God alone.

John 8:41

16. Once Peter had answered the question: Who do people say that I am?, Jesus immediately asked: Who do you say that I am?

17. Peter, a blunt and at times impatient man, could no longer hide his feelings, and responded with the words: We believe you are the Messiah.

18. Do not express those beliefs, Jesus warned his disciples, even among yourselves.

Mark 8:29–30

Matt 16:15–20;

Luke 9:20–21

19. Judas was saddened by these words, but clung to the fact that Jesus did not deny that he was not the Messiah.

20. However, none of them was prepared for Jesus’ next revelation: The Son of Man must suffer many things before he will finally be rejected by the Elders, the Pharisees and the High Priests.

see

Mark 8:31;

Matt 16:21–22;

Luke 9:22

21. Judas could not understand why Jesus referred to himself as the ‘Son of Man’. He could not recall ever hearing the Master use these words when describing himself and it went against everything he had been brought up to believe.

22. Judas then asked the other disciples if they had ever heard Jesus refer to himself as the ‘Son of Man’. Both Peter and James confirmed that he had used this term earlier in his ministry whenever he performed miracles, or when he explained with what power he forgave sins, and his authority over the Sabbath.

see

Mark 2:10, 28

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23. Judas wrestled with the dilemma for some time before recalling the words of the Prophet Ezekiel, who had used the expression ‘Son of Man’ to emphasize the difference between the mortal prophet and God, who always makes allowance for the weakness of human beings.

24. Judas decided that the Master must have been alluding to Ezekiel, who had maintained that the God of Israel had chosen him, a mere mortal, to bring about His reign on earth.

25. And such was Judas’ knowledge of the scriptures that he was able to remind his fellow disciples of another relevant passage from the book of the Prophet Daniel.

26. Daniel had had a dream in which many

monsters came out of the sea, bent on a path of destruction. This, Judas was convinced, symbolized the Roman Empire destroying the lives, the faith and the religious traditions of Israel.

27. Judas recalled that the symbolic monsters had later been summoned to the court of God, which Daniel described as the ancient of days, before they were finally vanquished and destroyed.