The following appeared as an editorial commentary in the December 7, 1992, Sentinel.
Mention the name Judas and people all around the world are likely to think of one word: betrayal. What an awful legacy for an individual to have left—to be remembered for nearly two thousand years by hundreds of millions of people as a betrayer! The name Judas seems universally to call forth condemnation.
But there’s another side to the story, and it’s one that shouldn’t be lost sight of. This side calls for our compassion. Relatively few people caught enough of a glimpse of Jesus’ mission while he was here to commit themselves to close discipleship. Yet Judas was one of those few. He did make a beginning effort. But the most significant aspect of this other side of the story has to do with what happened after the betrayal. My feeling of compassion for Judas took quite a leap forward one day as I pondered Matthew’s account of the dramatic change that began to come over Judas when he saw what was happening to Jesus. Judas, according to the Gospel of Matthew, “repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” (27:3, 4).
Judas repented; with heartbreaking impact he began to realize what he had done; he threw those pitiful few pieces of silver down on the temple floor; he felt deeply Jesus’ innocence; he felt bitter regret and self-condemnation.
What was it that began to shift his thought? Surely Christ Jesus’ unwavering love for his fellowman must have played an important role. And doesn’t this teach us all a vital lesson? However we may feel we’ve been treated, the steadfastness of our forgiveness and compassion will count at least something toward the inevitable and eventual change of attitude in any wrongdoer.
For most of us, the betrayals we have to confront won’t be so dramatic as the Judas/Jesus type! Yes, some have had to face what seemed the devastation of such broken commitments as marriage covenants. But for others the betrayal has been more at the level of a business colleague who backs out of an important deal, or that special guy who doesn’t show up after he made the date.
Whether it’s a major or more modest experience, every person, sooner or later, must learn to deal with and finally win the victory over betrayals. The victory will never be found in resentment, reaction, retaliation. It will always be found as we learn better how to demonstrate the transforming power of divine Love. Surely patience, forbearance, compassion, forgiveness, are vital lessons that Jesus left us. Actually, the Master’s life helps us see that we are all capable of dealing with a kind of betrayal that is more fundamental than how an acquaintance may treat us. By nature, mortality is filled with many types of infidelity. The very belief that we are separated from God could be seen as a kind of disloyalty to Truth. None of us will escape having to face the fact that God is our only real Life and Love. The view of life as rooted in matter instead of Spirit will step by step be given up. That’s quite a basic issue we gradually begin resolving. But in smaller ways we can regularly begin overcoming and bringing healing to those situations where we feel we’ve been hurt.
It is vital in this whole process that we not lose sight of the importance of our love for others. When we see or are aware of some conscious act of betrayal, we may have little idea of the struggle the other individual is going through—or will ultimately go through—as he deals with the kinds of agonizing feelings that Judas must have had to confront: the wrongness, the sin, the injustice, the repayment required, and the very demanding process of repentance.
Whether an experience of betrayal may have been directed toward us, or we ourselves have acted in a way that was unfaithful to a trust or a confidence, the healing Christ can begin having its effect even now. This power of the Christ, cherished and trusted, nurtures feelings that are both wise and compassionate. This Christly presence fosters an understanding heart. We find ourselves with a growing conviction that God is Mind, the source of all intelligent thought and action. The Christ strengthens our certainty that true creation is spiritual—the permanent, changeless manifestation of God and His infinite goodness. This means that man is the inseparable and eternal expression of God. His being is in unity with the intelligent Mind that continuously gives him identity.
These spiritual truths stand in stark contrast to the assumption that man has been drawn away from God; that he has fallen into temptation; that he has betrayed his pure and good creator. God’s creation is faithful to divine perfection. No separation here. No infidelity. No divisiveness.
As we recognize spiritual reality, we find our lives buoyed by a faithfulness that feels so liberating and supporting. On the other hand, if we allow ourselves to drift into the eddies of a supposed mind independent of God, vulnerable and fearful, we find elements of disloyalty attempting to seep in, and we may have to struggle to keep from sinking. If someone has yielded ground to temptation, to betrayal, he need not drown. Christ, Truth, is present to rescue him from the waves that would engulf. There is no inexorable law that demands self-destructive attitudes or actions. It is crucial that there be a radical awakening to the injustice; it is vital that the process of repentance literally transform thought. In the midst of such a wrenching experience, the Christ is something of a life preserver. It serves as an uplifting presence—a sustaining power sparing the individual while destroying the mortal undertow that caused him to break faith.
If you are ever on the receiving end of a betrayal, there is a reward when you are discerning enough to see the fallacy of a consciousness alienated from God, and forgiving enough to trust God’s law of justice. The Saviour is our supreme example. Though wronged, even by someone he loved deeply, he was lifted entirely above the sadness and harshness of this faithlessness. “Right has its recompense, even though it be betrayed” is Mrs. Eddy’s comforting promise—an assurance won out of hard experience (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 283). Your recompense will be apparent to the degree that forgiveness and spiritual understanding are the most prominent response in your thought.
The world remembers Judas mainly by his unfaithfulness—a lesson we cannot afford to ignore. But when someone wakes up to the fact that he has betrayed another, and begins to recognize the implications of what he has done, the answer for that individual is not in unrelenting self-condemnation. Nor is it in self-destruction, which might well come as a strong temptation, as it did to Judas. It’s true that sin is self-destructive and that one suffers as long as he clings to the sin. But the healing path, and ultimately the only one, is that of redemption and spiritual regeneration. Referring to the demand on all of us to prove the spiritual reality of existence, Mrs. Eddy insists in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, “Committing suicide to dodge the question is not working it out” (p. 53).
Still another lesson we shouldn’t overlook from the Bible’s discussion of Judas is the redirection that was obviously beginning to reshape this man’s view of events. While he was lost for the moment to those early struggling Christians, can there be any doubt that he was beginning to see how wrong he had been, and that, however difficult the road ahead, finally he would spiritually grow his way out of the consequences of his actions?
For all of us, the fullest rewards are when love prevails. Everyone is blessed when the power of Christ is so lived and acknowledged that we find ourselves lifted Spiritward.
Nate Talbot is a member of the Christian Science Board of Directors.
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Thank you so much for this excellent article! I find it tremendously helpful, especially knowing that love and forgiveness will eventually make it possible for all those who have done wrong to awake to their true spiritual identity and be renewed.
Thank you for this article. I watched the annual meeting and SS workshop all afternoon today. I have been gripped with feelings of grief, resentment, hopelessness and suicide much of the last 5 yrs. since my husband left. I was still struggling today. Many of the things regarding betrayal helped. I feel foremost like a Judas for having left the public practice of CS and Journal listing to please my spouse as I had been working on several severe physical challenges for several years…I went downhill immediately. I am having the larger challenge of forgiving myself. Thanks for the compassion