O Judas!

Go ahead, call me by that despised name

I am delighted to note that one insulting reference has at least been redeemed and given respectability. Until now, to be called 8216;Judas8217; was enough to raise my blood pressure. 8220;Repeat that, Sir8221;, I would respond to being referred to as a Judas, 8220;Where and how have I failed you? Did I ever bare a secret that you confided in me? Did I ever leak out information about your double deals to the powers that be? I could have easily brought you to financial ruin by mailing an anonymous letter to the IT authority, detailing how you made a million on the sly, fiddling with the accounts? But did I?8221;

Once a colleague whose sexual aberrations were a shade murkier than those of Casanova found himself in trouble with his wife, who had learnt of his peccadilloes. He cornered me when no one was around, and hissed the word 8220;Judas8221; at me. I blew my fuse and told him that if I was such a snake in the grass, his wife would have known about his amorous adventures several years earlier.

Now all this has changed. Over night. The National Geographic has come up with a document dating back to 180 AD, which proves beyond a shadow of doubt that Judas did not betray Jesus. The report says Judas was a close confidant of Jesus. He was especially marked out by Jesus for a major role in the drama that the saviour had in mind.

Jesus was seeking martyrdom. The route to martyrdom had to be worked out. The enemy had to be given sufficient guidance to pin down Jesus and build a cast iron case. Who would feed the enemy the information he needed? Who else but someone close to Jesus? It was this part that his mentor assigned to Judas.

Judas must have baulked, but must have finally yielded to the pressure of his master. Judas did not betray Jesus. He was true to Jesus. For centuries, he had carried the cross of being termed a horrible human being, he never protested when he was described as the greatest betrayer the world had ever seen. Now he finds himself redeemed. And with that redemption, one word that carried despicable references drops off the list of human expletives.

I, for one, am happy at that.