What did Judas Betray?

Episode Outline:
0:00 What did Judas actually betray, and was Jesus really hard to find?
1:19 Bart and Megan on alternate career paths, insurance sales, art school, and Assyriology
6:03 Who Judas Iscariot was and why his name remains so debated
8:46 Why Judas matters so much for understanding Jesus’ arrest and death
10:14 Differences among the Gospels in how Judas is portrayed
11:09 The contradiction between Matthew and Acts over how Judas died
12:31 How the “field of blood” stories differ and why they are hard to reconcile
16:56 Could Judas have been invented by later Christians?
20:47 Is “Judas” actually connected etymologically to “Jew”?
21:42 Why Bart thinks Judas did not merely identify Jesus’ location
22:59 The core thesis: Judas betrayed that Jesus privately claimed to be the Messiah
25:16 Would merely claiming to be Messiah have been enough to bring Roman attention?
27:11 Why Bart thinks Jesus taught his messiahship privately to the disciples
31:00 The saying about the Twelve ruling Israel and why it likely goes back to Jesus
33:19 Why would Judas betray Jesus if he expected a role in the coming kingdom?
35:41 Bart’s best guess: Judas became frustrated that Jesus was not actually acting
37:31 Course promo: The Bible and the Quran and why this comparison is so unusual
46:42 Scholar Spotlight: David Brakke on Gnosticism, apocrypha, and early Christianity
49:53 Final summary: Judas likely betrayed Jesus’ private messianic claim, not simply his whereabouts

Episode Description
The Gospels agree that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, even if they don't agree on why he did it. But is their view about what he did plausible? That he told the authorities where they could find Jesus without any crowds around? There are, in fact, reasons for thinking that Judas did something far more sinister, that he revealed a key teaching of Jesus given to his closest followers but he did not proclaim in public. Did Judas reveal a secret teaching that led to Jesus' crucifixion?

Also watch these episodes:
Did Jesus Think He Was the Messiah?
Did Jesus Think He Was the Messiah?

Was Peter a Rock or Shifting Sand? Jesus' Closest Disciple in History and Legend.
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Why Did Paul Hate Jesus and His Followers?
Why Did Paul Hate Jesus and His Followers?

Megan asks Bart:

- What career path would you have chosen if you hadn't pursued academia?

- Can you briefly tell us who Judas Iscariot was and what his name means?

- Why is it important to talk about Judas and his role in the New Testament?

- Do the four canonical gospels have significant differences in what they say about Judas?

- Could you give an example of one of the contradictions?

- Some scholars argue that there never was a Judas Iscariot, that he is a figure invented by the Christians. Do you agree with that view?

- The gospels describe how Judas identified Jesus for the Roman authorities, which has always been a point of confusion for me. It doesn’t seem that Jesus was particularly quiet, or interested in avoiding attention, so why did the authorities need Judas to point him out to them?

- If Judas wasn’t actually employed to simply point Jesus out to the authorities, then what information could he actually have provided that led to Jesus’ arrest?

- Would just the use of the term messiah have been enough to trigger an arrest?

- Why do you think Judas betrayed that Jesus was calling himself the messiah, not his location?

- What are your reasons for thinking that Jesus is teaching this information privately?

- The million dollar question: why would Judas turn on his leader, especially if Judas is being promised a throne in the future kingdom? Obviously, we can’t know for certain, but what are some of the motives that have been ascribed to him over the years?

- Which motive do you find most compelling?

- Do you think Judas was expecting the crucifixion as the outcome?