betrayal & bread

Does anyone else feel bad for Judas Iscariot?...  Probably not.  I mean he is named the one who betrays Jesus.  But, is Judas really worse than the other disciples?  Gosh, there’s doubting Thomas.  And what about Peter, the rock?  He has a chance to stand with Jesus, yet denies him not once, but three times.

And just after we learn that Judas is the betrayer, the disciples are arguing between themselves who will end up the greatest.  Even in the last moments of Jesus’ life, he still has to take a moment to teach the disciples about humility and servanthood.  In the end Judas hangs himself.  With all the sorrow of teenage suicides today, I’m not sure why we don’t find the story of Judas more saddening.

All the disciples have a story after Jesus’ resurrection.  I wonder what Judas’ life could have been. In the midst of breaking bread for the first time, one of the holiest acts of Christians, the betrayer is marked.  The disciple Judas is no more.