Jesus and Judas……a touching story part-I

O’ Judas! I wanted to carve a godly image out of you that would have been worthy of being worshipped. But, you slipped out of my hands and fell into the infamous streets of treachery and deception!!

Judas agreed to reveal the identity of Jesus to His opponents! Thirty silver coins was the total cost of his discipleship at the holy feet of his revered Master! After making a promise of getting Jesus apprehended at the right time, he went back to Jesus’ camp.

It is hard to believe to what extent greed can blind a person! Jesus didn’t even think once that if Jesus was aware of betrayal by him, He could have easily discarded him from his team. But He didn’t do that! Jesus was still giving Judas another chance to prove his loyalty and escape the harassment if being disloyal. The soft-hearted, generous Guru still wanted to save His disciple from the shame and embarrassment that he had chosen for himself by being treacherous! Eternal love and kindness flowing from Jesus! eyes was constantly repeating, “Judas! Come! I want you to eat this bread from my loving and caring hands, before you become a prey to your own sins!” Probably, Jesus was hopping against hope that Judas would come to realise His love towards him if He fed him with His own hands. But, no dear friends! This was not be! How can a thorny bush ever beat a fruit??....Even if sown in heaven, it will breed only spikes!!

As the night was darkening, Jesus’ sermon was getting more and more serious because He very well knew that it was the last gathering of His life! But, still He participated whole-heartedly in the Jewish Passover feast. After singing songs and having supper with the Jews, He started off with His disciples from Jerusalem towards the Mount of Olives. While ascending the mount, He again cautioned the apostles, “Dear ones! I warn you that you all will stumble tonight!” Hearing that, Peter became emotionally agitated. Devoting the earnings of his lifetime at Jesus’ feet, he said, “Revered Lord, everybody else may stumble, but I will not! Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will never leave you!” But, Jesus knew that the fruit was still unripe. The fruit however was under the misconception of being ripe, juicy and sweet! It’s always easy to swim in the direction of the flow of the river. But, the real strength of a swimmer is put to test only in the situation of an adverse flow!

While He was still speaking, Judas, accompanied by high priests and highly ranked officers, along with soldiers holding swords and clubs in their hands, showed up! The rivals were not sure about the identity of Jesus and so couldn’t recognize Him in the darkness of the night. Then, Judas told them, “Don’t worry! Whoever I kiss will be the culprit! Seize him!” Alas! How far had Judas gone down the road of sin! He didn’t even think twice before using the word “culprit” fir his Guru! Was it the same Judas, Who could sing Jesus’ praise tirelessly for hours together? Judas, who regarded Jesus as the Lord, was calling Him a culprit today! The foes were still calling Him “Jesus”, but Judas had crossed all limits! Kneeling at the holy feet of the revered master and kissing them is symbolic of true divine love shared by a Guru and his disciple! But Judas’ kiss was utterly poisonous, even more than the bite of the most venomous, snake in the whole world! If the pen accounts for such betrayal on papers, definitely the pen will also become poisonous!!  

Judas was approaching Jesus. The moment of truth had arrived! It was the time for which Jesus had been warning His disciples over and over again! Mother earth cried, “Somebody stop this ruthless Judas! Do something to stop him from kissing my Jesus….O’ Dear Lord! I can take the burden of your entire creation on my shoulders, but Judas’ burden is too much for me to bear! Please, relieve me from Judas’ burden before he kisses Jesus! Honestly speaking, I don’t have any place for Judas’ coffin in my heart!!” Mother earth kept screaming and weeping, but Judas didn’t stop! Briskly and smoothly, he moved towards Jesus! Jesus’ eyes were also totally glued on Judas.

He seemed to be thinking, “Judas! How eager you are to meet me today! It would have been worthy, if you were so eager to meet me, never to get separated! But no! You are here, to separate me from yourself and this world! If you had thought of holding me forever instead of getting me caught at the hands of the opponents, I promise you, you would not have desired anything else in the world…..not even those 30 pieces of silver! O’ Judas! I didn’t make you what you have become today! I don’t understand who has eclipsed my beautiful moon (referring to Judas here); whose negativity and darkness has converted my piece of diamond into black coal! Was there anything I didn’t do for you…that made you beg at the door of the strangers! O’ dear!! I wanted to carve a godly image out of you that would have been worthy of being worshipped; but what have you done?? You slipped out of my hands and fell into the infamous streets of treachery and deception!! You have put a full stop on your spiritual enhancement. Judas! From now on you will always stumble…..on every big and small obstacle of your life!! You have gagged the very essence of discipleship! Didn’t you think that whenever people will talk about my sacrifice, each and every time they will condemn your conspiracy against me! I still assure you that whenever the historians will call you a charlatan and a fraud, my heart will spurt out blood!! They will be writing these words for you on the paper, but I will feel as if they are chopping my heart with a sword!! Every word written to blame you will result in the shedding of tears of blood from my eyes! I wish I could, but I know that I will not be able to stop them from calling you so! Opponents are sure to seize me….I am not worried about myself; but, I am only worried about you!”

“No matter what Judas, but I know that somewhere in your heart you still have a soft corner for me! That is why you chose to kiss me as a means of identification; otherwise you could have caught me by the neck and got me captured! Although nails are bloodless, but they are attached to the body flesh in such a way that if pulled out forcibly, they uproot a part of the body’s soft flesh too. And, this is the proof of nail’s integrated relation with the flesh. That’s why people say that nails cannot be separated from the flesh. Similar is your relation with me; we are not totally distinct and detached from each other. I know Judas, one day you will realise your mistake and then you will to wish to repent….But sadly, you would have lost me by then!! When you would be screaming and shouting for me, I would have gone so far off that you wouldn’t even be able to see me, forget about coming to me! Then, there will be you, your repentance, and those 30 silver pieces! You will take those 30 coins in your hands and beseech at the top of your voice- ‘O’ coins, I gave up my revered Guru for you!! What a loser I am!! Now, I return you to your right place, but please give me my master back….I beg you, have some mercy on an orphan like me and return me my Jesus!!’ But, you know Judas! These coins will not listen to you then because coins can only jingle, they do not beat like a heart! You have already traded a beating heart in return for these jingle coins!!”

Indeed, Jesus’ thoughts had not ended, but the count of Judas’ footsteps towards Him was over! He reached Jesus’ and said- “Greetings Rabbi!” He then kissed Jesus. With this prearranged signal, rivals attacked Jesus as if a hungry wolf had found its prey! Unfortunately, Judas didn’t miss the shot! This had made Judas a good archer, but till eternity, he will stay on the target of criticism of the whole world!! From now on, no Guru would ever want to be served by a disciple like Judas!

The sudden attack led to a rout among the disciples as if a stack of grains had been kicked hard by someone! The disciples who till then had seen favorable conditions were caught in the storm of adversities! They all scattered away for the fear of their own lives! Nobody came near Jesus! Greed of coins ate up Judas and fear of death took Peter away from the master! Peter got frightened on hearing the swords clashing with each other. It seemed as if death was dancing nude in front of him. He started running away from Jesus!

But still, Peter had not become as insensitive and emotionless as Judas. His values had not totally turned to dust like a burning coal in fine. That’s why Peter could not go for off; his attachment with Jesus shook the walls of his heart and mind and arrested the pace of his feet. Not only did he stop, but also turned around to look at his Lord Jesus. He understood that the soldiers were taking Jesus to the Solicitor General’s residence. Peter decided to follow them. As he reached the Solicitor General’s home, Peter stopped at a distance and sat down by the fire, pretending to warm hands with Solicitor’s servants. Peter could have followed Jesus inside the house but that would have been totally suicidal. Neither was Peter courageous enough to have sacrificed his life for his master nor was he so stone-hearted to have left Jesus alone. His situation was comparable to a person who wanted to save his friend from drowning in a river, but could not muster courage to jump into the river due to the fear of losing his own life! Confused, scared and extremely sad, Peter kept sitting outside, just to see what follows.