Saint …. Judas….?

As we start to come round the corner of the end of Lent I’ve read some things that propose the idea of Judas being a Saint.

It’s a facisnating thought! And of course around this time I also came across this on… maybe you guessed it?…. Instagram:

I do believe we could call this- “a word”. Later in an Episcopal Facebook group someone specifically brought up the idea of Judas being a Saint. Another said that in order for Jesus to fulfill his destiny, Judas had to betray him. All of these things have got me to thinking… and then our own Father Ben at my church shared this:

It’s so easy to vilify Judas, but without him none of this would have happened. Beyond that- Jesus fed him anyway. He feeds us, even when we betray Him daily.

This seems to weight heavily on my mind right now as we head into what will surely be a contentious election season. And I don’t know if it’s because I’ve blocked a lot of people on Facebook or if they’ve blocked me… but I don’t see the same vitriol as I did the last go around. Is it because we’re all so tired? Or maybe we’ve realized, somehow- deep down, that even those who think differently from us are all loved by the same God?

I used to have a really hard time with that thinking, if I’m honest. And I used to get so angry. That said, there is also a privilege in not getting angry. In not being as affected. And realizing this is an uncomfortable place to be.

Here I come back to Judas and the argument for his sainthood. Judas did as he was supposed to. His betrayal allowed the rising to happen. How can we square with that?

Perhaps it’s simply just not for us to make sense of, after all… can anything about this Holy Time make any real sense? Perhaps that is where Faith lives.