Editorial May 5, 1917 Issue

Judas

William D. McCrackan

Judas, the disciple who "went and hanged himself," finished his record in the gospels; but Judas, the symbol of that which seeks to betray the Christ, will drag along a fictitious existence as long as the fiction of mortality itself continues. Judas represents that mortal concept of man which so thoroughly identifies itself with evil as to become inseparable from it; which magnifies self to such an extent that it will betray the best friend either for a supposed personal advantage or in order to force that friend into conformity with the letter which killeth. Jesus had his Judas because he manifested the Christ. The Judas type seeks to slay the Lamb of God, to prevent the Saviour from saving the world. When Judas feels Jesus ascending unto the Father and thus slipping out of his grasp, he quickly betrays him lest he escape mortal belief altogether.

It is significant that Jesus did not heal Judas, nor did he put any obstruction in the way of Judas' plan, but suffered him to be. In Scripture we read, "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." The Master once said to his disciples, referring to Judas, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Yet on the night of his betrayal he addressed him as "Friend." Jesus was spiritually alert to Judas' activities, but we have no record that he attempted to reason with him. The Judas mentality does not understand spiritual logic or divine compassion; knowing no compunction, it misinterprets kindness as fear and so is encouraged to retaliate. It never handles its own false beliefs, for this would un-Judas it. The metaphysical interpretation of Judas' treachery as given by Mrs. Eddy on page 47 of Science and Health should be carefully studied, for every aspiring Christian meets Judas at some time, somewhere, trying to block the path and traduce his motives.

The groundwork of the Judas habit of thought is jealousy. This may manifest itself in every relationship of life, in the household, in business, in civil or religious experience, between employer and employee. Mrs. Eddy has written, "When a man lends a helping hand to some noble woman, struggling alone with adversity, his wife should not say, 'It is never well to interfere with your neighbor's business.' A wife is sometimes debarred by a covetous domestic tyrant from giving the ready aid her sympathy and charity would afford" (Science and Health, p. 64). There is a little member of the bird world which illustrates this human proclivity—the pewee, belonging to the family of tyrant fly-catchers, a peevish, petulant specimen whose note is plaintive and suggests both self-will and sympathetic mesmerism. Disobedience to spiritual inspiration makes human beings traitors to Christ, but when they are found out, they plead that they are the injured ones, whereas their whole endeavor has been to hinder the advancement of the Christ. Judas' self-pity tries to enlist human sympathies and to play upon fears outlined by scholastic theology. He may try to soil the righteous man's coat of many colors, his beauty of holiness, but evil intention inevitably reacts upon itself.

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