March/April 2002
Judas
in the Market Church
by Jonathan Edwards
Why Judas? All the other disciples make some kind of logical sense. They represent a broad cross-section of status and gifts. John had friends in the Sanhedrin. Peter was a fisherman. Matthew was a wealthy tax collector who gave up his wealth to follow his Lord. Each of them brought strengths and weaknesses to the group. Peter's active nature, for example, often resulted in foolish impulsiveness but, under the Holy Spirit, it led him to become the leader of the early Church. From a returns standpoint, Peter and all the others represent good investments for Jesus in his work. They make good business sense. Judas doesn't.
I'm puzzled by Judas. The gospels say Jesus knew men's hearts, so he must have figured Judas out. Why did he let the multitudes leave yet allow the traitor to stay? Perhaps it was simply to fulfill the words of the prophets in the Old Testament. Jesus needed a traitor in his group -- just like Noah needed elephants on the ark. Perhaps he carried a checklist with him (tax collector: check; fishermen: check; traitor: check). It's possible, of course. Theologians could probably make a good argument for this position, but it strikes me as rather unlike Jesus to be so calculating.
| Judas brought nothing and added nothing. It makes no business sense for Jesus to include him as one of the twelve. Today it seems that everything about American Christianity has to be good business. |
Of course, Jesus knew about Judas. He knew who he was, what he was doing, what he would do in the end. But there must be more to the story of Judas. He must represent more than the man who betrayed his Teacher with a kiss and then ran off to spill his guts. There must be a lesson to Judas beyond the tediously obvious "wages of sin is death" analogies. He throws a wrench in the wheels of business. He steals the money, betrays the Teacher and dies before he can redeem himself for the cause. All that is left of Judas today is the stigma of traitor. Dante leaves him in frozen depths, captive in the mouth of Satan, held in the deepest pit of hell for all eternity -- for him, the ultimate sinner. Judas brought nothing and added nothing. It makes no business sense for Jesus to include him as one of the twelve.
Today it seems that everything about American Christianity has to be good business. We multiply, we advertise, we make booklets and illustrations. To avoid creating a stagnate body; we make up an attractive shop of free gifts -- providing you are willing to help keep the business going. Jesus overturned the moneychangers for selling pigeons in the temple. Last week I went to a church that was selling quilts and raffle tickets and copies of Billy Graham's biography out in the hallway. They had little booths set up, and several nice looking people offered me free gifts in hopes that I'd put my name and phone number on the dotted line.
I was there in the first place because I've just moved to a new town, and I've been searching for a new church. The overwhelming sense I get as I search from church to church is one of a marketing world. It's the capitalist economy run rampant inside the house of God. I've gotten presents (a loaf of bread, tracts, cookies, a steak dinner). I've been entertained with drama and puppets and music. Parts of it were more entertaining than others, but that's not really the point.
The point is, they want me. They all want me to come back, to help them out, to drop money in the offering every week. As soon as they find out I'm a Christian (so far, nobody's asked what that means to me), they want to know what area I feel God is calling me to help in. What ministry can I perform? What committees can I join? What friends can I invite?
This seems very different from the course Jesus took. He repelled a whole bunch of potential disciples -- offending them until they left in disgust. He turned many more away. People who seemed willing to help but, for whatever reason, weren't part of his plan. In the end, he chose only twelve men among the hundreds of applicants -- and one of those twelve was a traitor. Far from trying to attract followers, Jesus frequently tried to avoid the crowds.
It weakens the message of the church when we go to any lengths to attract people and get them in the door. My non-Christian friends are not impressed by skits and drums and computer graphics. Frankly, they can get better quality media and entertainment elsewhere, and they don't need churches to keep them entertained. What does impress them is a person who is willing to be their friend. A Christian who is willing to listen without expecting anything in return -- even a dollar in the offering plate -- even a chance to share the gospel message.
The gospel is important. It's powerful. But it's not about words on a page. It's not about memorized testimonies and theological debates and numbers of people saved daily. It's about the powerful work of Christ in people's lives. The work of Jesus is not found in raffle tickets and building expansion programs. I don't think it's even found in tracts that turn people into projects. That's not love, that's business. Maybe that's the more important lesson from the life of Judas. We need to view people with the eyes of Christ. We need to befriend people regardless of their value to us or our egos or our churches. The business of Jesus -- is not business.
I'd like to think the business of the church is not business either. I'd like to think it's more beautiful and complex than that. I'd like to think Jesus saw more than people running up to strangers with easy answers to difficult questions. And so I ask again: Why Judas?
Jonathan Edwards is a graduate student and currently lives in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.