Thoughts on Judas 4:4, and final series.

March brings us the finale to BOOM! Studios comic mini-series of Judas, an imaginative and exploratory new telling of the events leading up to and after Judas’s death. **This will contain spoilers.**

If you missed my thoughts on the prior issues, you can read 1 here, 2 here, and 3 here. You’re now reading 4.

The final issue treats the reader to some of the best artwork Jakub Rebelka has brought to this series. What started to build in the 3rd issue comes to fruition with bold and contrasting color palettes to tell the dramatic culmination of this story.

It seems that Judas finally has his head on straight and is thinking clearly. Jesus has been taken to the deepest depths of hell, beyond the beasts of John’s revelation. He is being held where all hope is gone. Jesus needs a savior.

In this inner circle of hell, Judas finds Jesus in his weakest state yet. Deflated into a shell, he is also defeated and depressed. He has believed the lie. “Lucifer was right. He was always right. The story is broken.” Then, as Judas sits by the limp Jesus, lost in the defeat of his friend, the story begins to shift. The reservoir of Judas’s accusation has been completely emptied, and now what is left?

The Father has been testing. The Old Testament recounting of Abraham sacrificing Isaac that prophetically points to Jesus is reshaped to suggest that God has been testing himself on a small scale to see if these things could be done. Could a father truly give up his son? To give him up to a place where the Father could not follow, where he would be alone?

But wait, Jesus is not alone. Judas is here. Judas has been sent before him, to be with him. When Jesus is weak, Judas was intended to be next to him to make him strong. Is this the grace of God, Judas asks himself? Is this his purpose, his story? In this section, we do find the answer to the close relational death Judas experienced in the first issue.

One thing is holding Jesus back. There is one sin that is keeping Jesus defeating death: his own sin of making Judas the villain in the story. Satan steps back in, seeing that he is about to lose what he has worked for, and Judas turns his doubt toward Satan and regains his faith in Jesus. As the betrayed and the betrayer are about to be overcome, Judas utters, “I forgive you.” In a dramatic change, light enters the darkness. Jesus’s power returns, and the gates of hell have been broken.

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. – Acts 2:24

Even if this comic entertains the possibility of Jesus being held by death, there is no escape for Judas. His black and broken halo remains, and Jesus goes where Judas cannot. Judas is not bitter, though. Even in death, he is watching the story continue on without him, but is comforted in love. Judas’s identity will always be the villain. He will always remain as broken as the story he finds himself in. In truth, Judas comes to the conclusion that there is more to our story than we know.

Judas, even in death, finds redemption in love. He doesn’t escape the dark wasteland he finds himself in, but he chooses to love. His bitterness towards Jesus is gone, his resentment of the story is no more, and in a bizarre turn that I was not expecting, we find Judas echoing the beatitudes and becoming the Christ of hell.

The curtain closes.

Final thoughts on the Judas mini-series

I’m reminded while reading that this series is called Judas, not Jesus. Jesus, while an integral part of this story, is not the focus. I found him quite uninteresting, drained of being fully God and fully man. The story started strong, with the heavy emotions and accusations that Judas was wrestling with. Even as Judas was trading words with the Satan, there was clever dialogue in the way that Satan was guilty of the exact things he was accusing Jesus of but disguised it with sleight of words. When Jesus entered hell, and lost his godhood (with a show of his words fading from red to black), the story took a turn which felt like an Academy Award winning movie doing something for the sake of being artistically provocative that wasn’t compelling. From the beginning, with the uncomfortable juxtaposition of Judas and Jesus, there was a tell in this ring the way the story would go. Artistically, the resurrection of Jesus was great, but without any significance, why should I care? Again, this is a story about Judas, and not Jesus, but as I closed the book, it was just not satisfying.

Even from an angle of something I didn’t line up with, the story that was told didn’t seem like it was a story that had to be told. It felt like art for the sake of art, and not much driving it beyond that. I stated at the beginning that this mini-series could be considered a good gift, but I’m not entirely convinced of that at the end of the tale. It falls flat. There may still be value in the discussion that can come from shared readers, but on what authority can any conclusions be tested against to be found true or false?

On Christian Hypocrisy

I’ve been part of conversations that have included a statement that is something to the effect of, “I don’t go to church because it is full of hypocrites.”

Why you do or don’t go to church is something we can talk about if you like. I am not going to sit here and type out why you’re right or wrong, even if it’s not hard to believe that you experienced hypocrisy. By the very nature of what the Church is, there are bound to be confused and messed up people inside her walls.

What I do want to explore here is my own tension with hypocrisy. I don’t know the depths of any other person as I know the depths of myself, and even then, assuming I’m fully aware of my depths is a stretch. Let’s not allow that to keep us from going diving, though.

What’s the problem?

The Bible is full of laws, and Christians have been called people of the book. In the Old Testament, God very specifically had laws which allowed his people to relate to him in light of his holiness. Failure to relate to God on his terms resulted in judgment, which God is not in the wrong for as Creator over his creation.

Fast forward to the New Testament. God fully becomes a man, while remaining fully God, which boggles the mind in full mystery. Jesus is not a new loving and kind version of God, but actually elevates the expectations of the Old Testament law.

The great evils we commit – that I commit – are forsaking the source of all satisfaction and life, and seeking satisfaction and life in things that can never provide them (Jeremiah 2:12-13). All of the judgment that we deserve for not loving God or loving our neighbors was poured out on Jesus. He took that, so that I don’t have to.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus fulfilled the debt of sinners. This is the gospel.

Jesus was resurrected to life after being dead for three days, and then ascended to heaven some time after that. This is the Christians hope.

Because of Jesus, men and women can be reconciled to God. God, the offended party, becomes the solution to the offense and bridges the gap. He becomes the rescuer.

What does all of this have to do with hypocrisy?

Wrapping your head around the gospel will go a long ways in helping you understand the inconsistency of hypocrisy. A reading of Luke, Acts, and Romans in the Bible will give you a far more robust knowledge of the gospel then the brief snippet I just condensed.

A lack of understanding the gospel is what leads to hypocrisy for the Christian. It is not even a matter of we don’t practice what we don’t preach, unless we are still preaching salvation by the law apart from Jesus.

Meditating on a mind-bending verse from the New Testament is where these kinds of things began to unravel for me: For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. – Galatians 2:19-21

The question I have to ask is who or what is my faith in? In what do I place my trust to save and satisfy and justify me? This is not something that, upon becoming a Christian with saving faith in Christ, becomes fully realized. The late theologian R.C. Sproul said, “The doctrine of justification by faith alone is easy to get from an intellectual standpoint, but to get it in the bloodstream takes a lifetime.”

It is not natural to rest in the good news that I am fully reconciled to God by faith in Jesus alone. It is natural for me to forget who I am in Christ. When Christians forget, when I forget, there you will likely find the hypocrite. We forget who we are. This is true of many Christians, not just myself.

The Two-Faced Christian

And now here we are. How can I look in the mirror when I am, as Martin Luther phrased, simul justus et peccator? Simultaneously righteous and sinner? This is more mystery that I must be comfortable with as a Christian.

I am righteous in Christ. By faith alone am I righteous in Christ. “Yes, yes, but don’t you have to do something?!” Yes, I do. I have to trust that Jesus is all of the righteousness I have.

I am also a sinner. I still experience anger that is out of love for myself, not love for God or my neighbor. I still look to be satisfied in things that can never satisfy. I forget which Kingdom is satisfying, and fall back to my old ways of thinking that the self-focused kingdom of Josh will make me whole.

Ted Dekker explores this idea in his stylized fiction novel The 49th Mystic. A group of people called the Elyonites have been made justified, rescued from their disease, yet remain in fear. Eternally, they are secure. In the here and now, they submit themselves to their fears, try to justify themselves by their own laws and do not live in the good of their eternal hope. I wonder if this is a scathing commentary on the contemporary Church, but that rabbit trail is for another time.

I agree that the law is good, yet I fail to fully submit to it. I agree all the approval I will ever need is found in God, who I am reconciled to, yet I crave that approval from others. I am justified and righteous before God, but still struggle to live in every way that reflects that.

How can I live in the tension but not be a hypocrite?

This past week, a memory showed up on my Facebook. It is a quote by Matt Chandler. “We want to be known as these kind of fake mirages instead of who we really are, and when we enter into who we really are then all of a sudden the group has a shot at genuine empathy and compassion because there’s no reason to have empathy and compassion when everyone’s awesome. In no way does being awesome lead you to prayer and the word of God.”

I can come to grips with that I am not obeying every jot and tittle in the Bible, even if they are good and worth obeying. In no way is that a dismissal. It’s an admission of where I’m really at. I struggle with identity, an impulsive lack of self control, fear of what people think, and running to things that can never satisfy. The law is good and I am not. This is why I need Jesus to begin with. If the law was good and I could fulfill it, then Jesus died for no purpose. Remember Galatians?

I think I fall into hypocrisy when I put up some fake front of actually fulfilling the law apart from Jesus, when I claim awesomeness in a state of not-awesomeness. When I fake peace but am wrestling with doubt.

Hypocrisy is God gives the law, and I can fulfill that law. I live like I don’t need the mercy of God because I am good. Except I can’t, and everyone will see that gap except me. Fear. If you think about it, this kind of thinking extends even beyond Christians.

The Christian life is that God gives the law, I admit of falling short of it, and cast myself on the mercy of God. I don’t have everything in a polished state of awesomeness, free from doubts and struggles, but I am reconciled to God in perfect love. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Free of fear, I am free to live.

Free of fear, I am free to love.

I submit to you that there is only one source that can love you so perfectly as to free you from fear. If you are in Christ, remember who you are. This, I believe, is a primary function of gathering in a local church, because we forget who we are so easily and submit ourselves to old chains and fears.

In Christ alone can we live and love free, even if we are a mess ourselves. My hope is in Jesus, not in me. This is how I believe a Christian can live in tension without being a hypocrite.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1

Thoughts on Judas 1:4

“Every story needs a villain.”

A couple months ago, I first saw the solicitations for a new mini-series from BOOM! Studios. Having read a few different mini-series that BOOM! has published (like Warlords of Appalachia and Bill & Ted Save the Universe), I was familiar with the quality and attention that goes into their art form. Seriously, a whole comic that isn’t half advertisements? Plus, this may seem a small thing, but the paper quality gives the book a tactile richness that most Marvel or D.C. books don’t have.

Immediately, Judas was a title that caught my interest. Especially that it was a mini-series, which tells me the author has a story to tell. Any story that had Judas front and center is bound to be controversial to someone. Going into it, I wanted to make room for any theological disagreements I might have to try (while also not picking those points apart) and understand the story Jeff Loveness and Jakub Rebelka are trying to tell.

The first panel immediately drew me in.

The gravity to that statement, Did you know it would be me?, lays out the premise for the story. Judas sets himself up as the lynchpin of Jesus’s plan to glorify Himself and rescue people. Judas is wrestling with his predestined path as the fall guy. It all depended on his sacrifice to make God’s plan go forward. Enter discomfort.

Within the first few pages, I found myself wondering what this book is trying to say? Judas begins with questioning, and the tone escalates to accusation. There is a part of that that makes me cringe, and then there’s a part I find as brilliant storytelling. Is this accusation a sentiment that Jeff Loveness shares, or are we only pulling back the curtain and getting into the mind of Judas Iscariot, the most famous traitor of all time?

As the mental movement of Judas dives deeper with each question, it culminates that there is a personal pain that makes each question twist like a knife in his back. We hear the classic thought of God, if you are good, then why is there suffering in the world? None of these questions are unexpected, or even unreasonable for any doubter or seeker among us.

There is one particular series of panels that have Judas evading demons in pursuit of him. What makes this page particularly the most uncomfortable for me is the overlay of Isaiah 53:3-4 across the panels: He was despised… and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The juxtaposition of those words describing Judas and/or Jesus is heavy. Coming to a close that is to be continued, we find Judas at the feet of another in another parallel that sends me back to wondering what is going on.

One thing I wondered about that is not in the comic is Peter. He also betrayed Jesus, but instead of 30 pieces of silver, it was for his own skin and reputation. They were both traitors, yet one of them ran to Jesus for grace and forgiveness, and the other was self-condemned and hung himself. This is something I’d like to see explored more, if not in the series, then at least conversations.

As a graphic and visual medium, the art is wonderfully dark and feels representative of the reeling dizziness in Judas’s own head. Jakub Rebelka has done a masterful job here.

In the Bible, Jesus asks his disciple Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” I don’t think that this comic is telling us who Jesus is, though that Isaiah bit feels like it’s dancing on a boundary for me. I think Judas 1:4 is an imaginative and speculative exploration of Judas. In addition, it raises questions our culture is asking, and I think it would be detrimental to not look those questions straight in the face. Do I have all the answers to every question or doubt that could ever be raised? No. There are gaps in what I comprehend. However, I have every reason to believe, even in spite of those questions, in the goodness and trustworthiness of God. Questions and doubts are not a threat to Jesus. He can handle them. That being said, even if controversial, I feel this book is a good gift. Judas, as a comic book mini-series, is an overlapping of circles. The conversations that can come out of people reading it could be so beneficial.

Judas is a four part mini-series, and I’ve already asked my LCS (Local Comic Shop) to put it in my pull box. I’ll check back in every month as the story unfolds. If you’re reading it as well, let’s talk about it!