Poor Old Judas

I’ve always had a certain sympathy Judas. Even when I was a Christian, I felt like Judas got such a raw deal. Yes, he is the betrayer, but Jesus needed someone to betray him so that he could die for all our sins and all that. That’s so cruel; it’s as though Judas could never have done anything else, like he had no free will. And then, he kills himself, another sin, and according to some texts is then eternally damned. I mean, sheesh, the guy literally facilitated the saving of all humanity, but because he betrayed Jesus he’s the worst? Un.fair.

There were lots of things that contributed to my becoming an atheist. It happened gradually, and I would never be able to pinpoint an exact moment where I decided I no longer believed, but Judas was always one of my problem points. How could a loving God allow that? No, it’s worse than that, Judas’ betrayal wasn’t something that just happened on God’s watch, it was God’s plan. And even if you want to go with the sort of Vengeful God/ Loving Jesus dichotomy, it’s not like Jesus let Judas off the hook either. He was all “ONE OF YOU WILL BETRAY ME LOL JOKES I KNOW IT’S YOU JUDAS YOU GIT.” That was exceptionally problematic for me as a young, questioning Christian, and not one that the Church ever seemed to have a ready answer for.

One of you will literally stab me in the back with a poorly concealed knife.

When I was 16 we watched Jesus Christ Superstar in Study of Religion at school. The 70s film version, the one in the dessert, the famous one, you know it. Dancers appear out of thin air and leap off stuff, it’s great.

like this

I remember being mostly bemused on my first watching. I thought Herod was hilarious and I couldn’t quite work out if it the film meant to be taking the piss or not, but I also was so taken with the interpretation of Judas. He doesn’t betray for money, he betrays because he thinks Jesus needs to be stopped, because he’s taken it too far. He unwittingly sends Jesus to his death; never believing it will go that far. Poor old Judas indeed.

I’m not really a musical theatre kind of person. I usually find musicals to be over long and bizarre. My exceptions to this rule are Avenue Q, because puppets, Chicago, because it’s amazing, and Jesus Christ Superstar because Judas. Also, JCS is a continuous musical, which makes a lot more sense to me than musicals where there’s a scene that adequately tells the story, but then the characters break out into song anyway, just to drive the point home, just in case you missed it. I’m not obsessive about JCS by any means; I haven’t even seen that many version of it or anything. But I like the songs, and I know lots of the lyrics, and you’re damn right when it was announced that the most recent Arena tour version was touring Australia I signed up for the presale.

Boyfriend and I just got back from a super quick weekend trip to Sydney where we watched Tim Minchin absolutely rock it as Judas Iscariot. Also, obviously, Mel C (The Spice Girls Reigneth!) as Mary Magdalene and new blood Ben Forster as the Man Himself. The entire production is 100% mind-blowing and if you didn’t get a chance to see it fear not, because there’s a DVD and you absolutely must watch it. It. Is. SO. Good. We were in the eleventh row, smack bang in the centre, and I had tears in my eyes from the second it started.

Our view

Tim Minchin is a renowned Atheist and I have seen many Internet commenters reacting very surprised to learn he is in a show about Jesus. It’s possible that some of them are offended Christians, maybe, or bewildered atheists, but I just feel like they are missing the point. Yes, it’s called Jesus Christ Superstar but it’s never been about Jesus for me. It’s Judas’ story. And Judas, despite being devoted to Jesus (you know, before he betrayed him and sent him to his death) was the first person to question Him. And that’s what Atheism is, in my opinion. It’s questioning, it’s doubting, it’s saying “hey wait a second why are we pouring expensive perfume on Jesus, he’s just a guy, can’t we sell it and give the money to the poor?” Minchin himself calls JCSan “atheist musical” and if I was ever going to follow someone blindly (irony intended), it would probably be him.

Can you blame me?

P.S. Sorry the blog is late, it's because of the aforementioned Sydney trip.