Article April 7, 2014 Issue

Have you forgiven Judas?

Dorothy Estes

Jesus has. Betrayed by Judas into the hands of those who would crucify him, Jesus neither attempted to stop the betrayal nor did he express any bitterness because of it. In his well-known and ultimate forgiveness statement, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), Judas was included.

How could Jesus forgive such horrendous wrong by his own disciple who betrayed him and by those who crucified him? He fully understood the allness, the all-power of God, good, and the absolute nothingness of evil in all its forms. He understood that all such things could only “work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). And, of course, that is just what happened. The crucifixion made possible Jesus’ resurrection from death, which forever stands as proof that evil in any form, including death, has no power whatsoever.

Many since that time have followed Jesus as he encouraged us all to do in forgiving the most unjust betrayals and wrongdoings. Mary Baker Eddy is one of them. In her lifetime she forgave many who betrayed her, prayed against her, and did everything they could to bring her mission of giving humanity her discovery of the Christ Science to a halt. None of it stopped her from fulfilling her God-given mission. Near the end of her life, following an attempt by friends and family to publicly discredit her ability to handle her own affairs and wrest from her hands the Church and movement she had established, she immediately penned a note of forgiveness when she heard that the legal case against her called the “Next Friends” suit had failed.

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