WORLD OF RELIGION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23375, 17 June 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

WORLD OF RELIGION

By PHILEMON

NO MAN IS BORN A "JUDAS"

WE know that Jesus was betrayed by one of the Twelve, but the motive that prompted the betrayer will always remain uncertain. The Gospels make no attempt to uncover the mystery of the darkened spirit that could be guilty of such treachery. Various writers, in their charity, have sought to extenuate the baseness of the act and to moderate the severity of the traditional judgment upon it. Among these the latest is Mr. Eric Linklater, in his novel "Judas."

Mr. Linklater offers in narrative form an analysis of the events of the Passion Week and from them disentangles the view that Judas was a man of wealth and social standing, proud of his possessions, and fearful lest, in the unrest of the times, their security should be endangered. He became attracted to Jesus as a preacher of peace and goodwill and found in His teaching support for his pacifism and a certain idealism. But as our Lord's ministry advanced he discovered that His preaching of the Kingdom and His acceptance of Messiahship gave encouragement to the Jewish nationalists and that the reactionaries sought to use His influence fo£ their own ends. "Protective Custody" Thus a disastrous conflict with the authorities became imminent. He therefore yielded to the appeal of the Sanliedrin, made through a relative, who was a member of it, that Jesus should be taken into "protective custody." He was assured that this would involve only a temporary restriction of his Master's activities and that no extreme measures were contemplated. But once the arrest had been secured the priests cast off their tool and all the awful tragedy followed. Exception has been taken to the lurid and ultra* modern language which Mr. Linklater occasionally puts into the lips of the rougher elements, but Dean Matthews commends the book for its "distinction arid restraint," and the British Weekly reviewer styles it "a masterly piece of writing." One thing is clear. Judas was freely chosen by Jesus and given a place among His intimates. There was something in him that won .the notice and confidence of our Lord. Jesus may well have been aware of the perilous elements compounded in bis nature and yet He gave him place and trust. No man is born a "Judas," nor does he become one in a day. 1 saw a Judas once: it was an old man's fnco. Greatly that artist erred. Judas had eye 3 Of starry blue, and lips like thine That gave the traitor's kiss. It was no part of the purpose of God that the unhappy man should become an instrument of shame and perish in the field of Aceldama. Only in the slow unfolding of life do the baser tendencies, nij'steriously mingled in our human make, and too easily nourished by interior folly and passion, overmaster the good and impel the soul to incredible evil. The Hated Roman And further, Judas was the only Judean among the apostles. He alone came from that dour and stony upland where dwelt the proud aristocracy of

tho Ancient People, where tho Jew nursed his fierce patriotism and practised his faith in its most exclusive forms, and where every Jewess prayed that she might be the mother of tho Christ to be. There stood Jerusalem, "that bitter murderess on the hill," and in its back streets men plotted revenue and revolution, awaiting the coming of Him who should thrust out the hated Roman from the land. In such an atmosphere Judas alone of the Twelve was born and bred.

And when one day a whisper ran through the land that the Deliverer had come and that the Baptist had acclaimed Him, every cherished hope in Judas' heart flamed aloft. His hour had come. He went forth to seek Him who should set free his people and restore the glories of the ancient days. He heard his Master's voice and looked into His face for the first time. No disciple was more easily won. He cast himself without reserve into the Movement that was to make all things new, and was given a place in the apostolic band. And for a time all went well. The crowds flocked to hear the new teaching. The city gates were beset by the sick and tormented and none was sent empty away. The apostles passed"two and two through the land proclaiming the Kingdom amid signs of popular favour. What could it all mean but that they stood on the verge of tho New Age? Seeker After Honour But, and here w.e begin to differ from Mr. Linklater, an evil thing, that was to destroy all, lay concealed within the ardour of tho zealot. The more sure the Kingdom became, the more eager lie was to find a placo for his powers within it. And the ambition, scarcely admitted at first, and then justified only for the Kingdom's sake, grew as the months passed, until, as it has been said, like some old ecclesiastic, fond of rule and willing to serve his own ends as well as those of his Lord, he became a placemnn, a seeker aftor honour and position for their own sako. And as ever more fully he confessed to himself this mastering hope of personal advancement, the possibility' of its realisation diminished, for Jesus sought only what seemed to Judas an intangible kingdom of spiritual ardours and immaterial rewards, which he had neither eyes to see nor will to further, and the establishment of which would utterly dispel the ancient hope of Israel. And so the brooding, disillusioned man gave way to a bitter complaining that finally mounted to an anger and revolt that made him tho ready tool of evil men. "Satan entered into him," says the Gospel. He became a man demented, incapable of reason and proper self-control, one who could betray with a kiss. Shame and Remorse

And yet, at the last, he could not brazen out his crime. When his Master was condemned to the cross liis fevered brain threw off its base possession and in one white (lash he saw what lie had done. And with the sight a' wave of shame and remorse, and may we not say of jjenitence, swept over his desolate spirit. He made the only reparation of which his despairing heart could think. He brought the blo,pd-money to the priests, he endured their contempt and derision, no flung the accursed silver upon tho Treasury floor, and with tho bitter cry upon his lips, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood," ho perished in tho potter's field. Poor tempestuous, misjudged 1 We can hut leave theo to Him who chose thee and numbered thee with His own, who called thee "friend" in tho Garden, whose mission it is to seek and to save lost sheep and prodigal sons.