In my reading of the Passion story, I have always thought of Judas as something of a ‘loner’ who takes his disastrous actions for reasons we will never know. And we will never know. But having come across the description of ’Spy Wednesday’ as a name for the Wednesday in Holy Week, I let my imagination weave some ideas together.
The designation was, I understand, to prompt thinking about Judas as the spy in the midst of the community of the disciples. But what, I started to think, if there was a network of spies of which Judas was a part? Might that be an idea for a somewhat different speculation?
This is what emerged... another ‘Unreported Moment in First Century Jerusalem'
The High Priests’ Spy.
To the people of Jerusalem and the villages
I’m a leather seller.
Go up country, always on my own;
return with sandals, purses,
patterned wrist bands
and thin necklaces to take a pendant.
It should be a good living
if it wasn’t for the greed of the itinerant sellers.
So, years ago I was desperate.
One night when I was near starving
a man looms out of a dark passageway
and asks me if I’d like to make more money
than at that time I could ever dream of.
What’s the expression?
Bit his hand off, I did.
Mostly it’s easy money.
Hang out in the bazaars or alleys of the City,
or the villages;
listen to the gossip about local teachers
or others who are gathering round
and following them.
Wait until dark.
Creep into the deep
shadows of the Temple walls.
Wait, report back.
Silver and sometimes gold,
in hand – simple.
Then came a more specific commission:
‘Find and follow Jesus of Nazareth.
Seek out and befriend the most dissatisfied
among his followers: someone who might betray
the blasphemer’, as they called him, at the right moment.
So, I become a hanger-on.
Always in the background,
just close enough to watch the comings and goings.
Occasionally close enough to hear what this Jesus
was saying, doing.
If it wasn’t for the spy-money, I might
have been persuaded by his ideas.
But they weren’t going to make me a living.
Enough of me.
What about the task in hand?
The weak link.
Not difficult really.
It was Judas of Kerioth,
the money-man.
No surprise there then!
Strange how greed grasps its victims.
So I follow this Judas
waiting for him to detach himself from the others.
I watch to see where the money he steals is spent.
I’ll leave that to your imagination!
Gives me scope for blackmail.
And that, my contact tells me, delights the High Priests.
Judas proved all I could have hoped for.
A Zealot at heart.
When I first befriended him
he was beginning to get impatient with Jesus.
His hopes had been that Jesus
was the promised Messiah
who, with his followers
would overthrow the Romans.
By then he was realizing the improbability of that.
Jesus preached ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’;
not a message Judas wanted to hear at all.
Clearly Judas could not discuss his impatience
with any of the other followers:
so an itinerant trader with a listening ear
made a good confidante.
Whenever I ‘happened to’ bump into him,
I could always guarantee he’d bring me up to date
with the latest story laced with his irritation
– duly relayed by my shadowy contact
to the High Priests.
Naturally I had to prove my worth to them.
So I concentrated on the wonder-working;
the dead brought to life,
Capernaum’s Synagogue leader’s daughter,
the dead son of a widow of Nain.
A big crowd fed from a mother’s
provision for her boy to eat out in the hills
to allow him to follow the teacher for a whole day:
thousands fed from that meagre supply,
according to Judas.
With other tales woven in,
Judas always had a new story for me to tell
with little bits of detail that gave them credence.
So, although I never saw any of these things happen
My reporting back always had a ‘ring of truth’ to it.
Then the stories from Bethany.
Another raised from the dead:
Expensive ointment poured over Jesus’ feet
then washed by a woman’s hair.
That really got Judas worked up.
All the money that would have cost –
just wasted!
He was furious –
and that was when he told me his longer-term thoughts.
If Jesus changed his tactics
and turned his many followers against Rome
he’d be up alongside Jesus
and bring in supplies of daggers and swords
which I could help him buy.
We’d both be rolling in it!
But if that didn’t happen,
Judas saw the whole of Jesus’ teaching
fading into nothing.
So he planned to keep ‘borrowing’ from the common purse
until he had enough to buy a field
to give him food or rent or both,
for whenever he had to work out a new future for himself.
Then came the big disappointment for Judas.
Bethany’s miracle and money-wasting behind them.
The crowd growing and growing
as Jesus made for Jerusalem.
‘Hosannas!’
‘Blessings on the one who is coming’.
‘Messiah!’,
Cheering, waving palms,
coats on the floor.
Just the time to whip up the gathering, growing, manipulable crowd,
and with sheer force of numbers
overcome the Roman legion occupying Jerusalem.
This could be IT!
But from somewhere Jesus had found a donkey!
Yes – a donkey – not a powerful war horse,
A DONKEY!
To ride into the City.
Judas was incandescent.
That gave me just the chance I’d been looking for.
Backwards and forwards to the High Priests.
Yes, if Judas would identify Jesus in the dark somewhere,
away from the crowds, they’d pay him enough
to let him buy one of the fields on the market.
I could hint at 20, 30, 40 pieces of silver.
I imagined Judas almost salivating at that offer.
‘Hey, Judas…’