Great NT Profiles Part 14

JUDAS ISCARIOT

Related Scriptures:

Ø Matthew 26:14-16; 26:24; 27:3-10

Ø Mark 3:19; 14:10

Ø Luke 6:16

Ø John 12:3-6; 6:70-71; 13:21-27, 29; 17:12

• The betrayer of Jesus who either acted from greed or political revolution attempting to prod Jesus into wrestling control of the country from Rome.

• The Gospels also portray him as a dupe of the high priest’s machinations.

• The tragic figure that commits suicide as a result of his betrayal.

The Name

• Judas, meaning “Jewish man” (Hebrew: Judah), was a common name (for example, Judah Maccabee, Judah the Prince), with no fewer than eight New Testament bearers.

• Iscariot possibly derives from Ish Kerioth, “man from [the village of] Kerioth.” The statement could suggest that Judas was the son of Simon Iscariot. (John 6:71).

• Other possible derivations include the Aramaic saqor, “red” (thus, ruddy, or worker in red dye).

• Sicarius, from the Latin and indicating “assassin”; sakar from the Semitic for “hand over”; and shaqar, Semitic for “fraud, deception.”

Introduction

• Mark’s first mention of Judas is at Jesus’ appointing of the Twelve; the reference is followed immediately by “who betrayed him” (Mark 3:19; see also Luke 6:16).

• Judas took an active role as an apostle. He was that looked after the money box.

• John 6:70–71 is harsher: “Did I not choose you, the Twelve, and one of you is a devil?” This reference to the “devil” associates Judas with “the Jews,” whom the Johannine Jesus states, “are of your father, the devil” (8:44).

Vilification

• The vilification of Judas begins through the stories of Jesus’ anointing.

• In Mark 14:4–5, “One of the disciples” is upset by the “waste.” Mark juxtaposes the woman’s generosity to Jesus with Judas’s betrayal of him for money (14:10–11).

• In John 12:4–6, “Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was to betray him, said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what he put into it.”

His Motive

• In Mark 14:10–11, the financial incentive is offered by the priests.

• Matthew offers greed as a motive.

• In Luke 22:3–5, “Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the Twelve; he … conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad and engaged to give him money.”

• In John’s Gospel, Jesus says of the one to betray him, “‘It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it.’ So having dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him.” (See Ps. 41:9 for a possible proof text for the dinner scene.)

The Kiss Symbolism

• “We have all heard of the phrase “the kiss of death”.

• It is clear that for the disciples, including Judas, violence remained a viable means through which the kingdom of God would finally arrive.

• Was Judas trying to force Jesus take up violence? Was Judas trying to control Jesus with the kiss?

His Death

• Matthew has Judas’s death resemble that of Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15–17).

• According to Matt. 27:6–8, Judas hangs himself. “But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.’ So they … bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the ‘Field of Blood’ to this day” (Matt. 27:6–8).

• Acts 1:18–19 offers an explanation presented in the context of Peter’s speech, “Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Akeldama, that is, ‘Field of Blood.’” (Luke matches Judas’s grotesque death with that of Herod Agrippa [Acts 12:23].)

Theories

Judas hung himself and left to hang long enough to decompose and fall to the ground.

Matthew’s account is parallel to Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23).

Papias in his Exposition of the Oracle of the Lord wrote Judas was cursed consequently his body was so swollen he was unrecognizable.

In the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, Judas was so depressed killed himself.

Questions of History

• Paul states that Jesus was “handed over” (paradidomi), a term that can also be translated “betrayed” (Rom. 4:25, 8:32; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2, 25; 1 Cor. 11:23).

• Judas resembles the literary trope of the conventional “betrayer”.

• Some scholars believe that Judas is an invented character designed to vilify Jews and decrease divine responsibility.

Question to Consider

• Is suicide an unforgiveable sin?

THE HERODIANS

Introduction

Ø Related Scriptures:

• Herod the Great (73 B.C. – 4 B.C.) - Matthew 2:16-17

• Herod Archelaus (23 B.C. – 18 A.D.) – Matthew 2:22

• Herod Antipas (Before 20 B.C. – 39 A.D.) – Mark 6:17-29; Matthew 14:1-12

• Herod Philip (27 B.C. – 34 A.D.) – Luke 3:1

• Herod Agrippa I (12 B.C. – 44 A.D.) – Acts 12:21-23

• Herod Agrippa II (27 A.D. – 100 A.D.) – Acts 26:28-29

• The name Herod is mentioned nearly 50 times in the New Testament, but Scripture is not speaking of just one man.

• Like the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Herodian family receives negative treatment in the New Testament.

• They submitted to Herod, and to Rome, for political convenience.

Herod the Great

• He was ruler of Judea despite being Idumean descent (from Edom). The fact that he was a non-Jew, along with his notably cruel manner of ruling, made him largely distrusted and resented by the Jewish people.

• Responsible for the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16-17).

• Ironically, he was never called “the Great” in antiquity. This became a later designation because of his extensive building campaigns and strong foreign policy.

• His accomplishments were funded through burdensome taxes which contributed greatly to the Jews disliking of tax collectors.

Tumultuous Times

• In 44, Caesar is assassinated, and the following year, the second triumvirate of Antony, Octavian (later called Augustus), and Lepidus ascends.

• In 32, Antony and Octavian separate, and in 31, at the Battle of Actium, Octavian conquers his rival. Herod, who had originally sided with Antony, accompanies Octavian from Egypt, and is restored to governmental good graces.

His Building Projects

• Herod sponsored the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple and the patriarchs’ tomb in Hebron.

• He built Caesarea Maritima; Sebaste (ancient Samaria); and fortresses, including Masada, Machaerus, and the Herodium.

• Rabbinic sources suggest that the Pharisees were interested in extending the sanctity of the Temple to the home.

His Family

• Herod married ten times, participated in several divorces, and executed many sons, a wife, numerous in-laws, and even more political rivals.

• In 38, after a five-year engagement, Herod marries the Hasmonean princess Mariamme.

• Eventually, Herod will kill his sons by Mariamme, his mother-in-law, and Mariamme herself.

His Death

• Herod died in agony from renal failure? syphilis? and was buried, ancient sources suggest, in Herodium, near Bethlehem. His tomb has not yet been discovered.

• Herod the Great, having executed most of his sons, divides his kingdom among Philip, Antipas, and Archelaus.

Herod Archelaus

• As an ethnarch (a non-King in charge of an ethnic group in a region) Archelaus was in charge of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. However, Archelaus did not remain in power for long. He only held his post from 4 B.C. until being deposed in A.D.6, when the Jews requested that Caesar Augustus replace him.

• Even so, Archelaus did influence the history of the New Testament. It was fear about his reign in Judea that prompted Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to live in Galilee rather than in Judea (Matthew 2:22).

Herod Antipas

• Herod Antipas became the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39, meaning he was one of four appointed regional rulers. He is seen in the New Testament to have been rebuked by John the Baptist for taking the wife of his half-brother, Philip (Mark 6:17-20).

• Antipas had John beheaded to fulfill an oath sworn to his daughter (Mark 6:20-29) and later worries that Jesus is John the Baptist back from the dead (Matthew 14:1-12).

Herod Agrippa I

• Agrippa sought to maintain good standing with the Jewish people, ultimately gaining the respect of both the Sadducees and Pharisees. Agrippa attempted to crack down on messianic movements (Acts 12:1-2).

• In 44, he dies suddenly in Caesarea (Acts 12:22-23).

Herod Agrippa II

• Agrippa II was rumored to have had an incestuous relationship with his sister Berenice.

• According to Acts 25:13–26:32, at Festus’s request, Agrippa II and Berenice hear Paul at Caesarea. He found no fault in Paul worthy of imprisonment and remarked that he could have been let go if Paul had not appealed to make his case before Caesar.

The Herodians

• Influential persons who were partisans of the Herodian dynasty. They are mentioned three times in the NT (Mark 3:6; Matt. 22:16).

• They would be theologically and politically close to the Sadducees.

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PHARISEES AND NICODEMUS

Introduction

Ø Related Scriptures:

Ø Pharisees (Matt. 3:7; 5:20; 12:38; 15:12; 16:1-6; 19:3; 23:13-39; Luke 7:36-50; 15:1-9; Acts 15:5; 23:6)

Ø Nicodemus (John 3:1-21; 7:45-52; 19:38-42)

• Most definitions are (unfortunately) based on New Testament portraits: “Pharisee: strict in doctrine and ritual, without the spirit of piety, laying stress on the outward show of religion and morality, and assuming superiority on that account; hypocritical, formal, self-righteous.”

• The name (probably) comes from P-R-Sh, a root meaning, “to separate”.

• The movement was not an inherited one (like priest or village elder) and therefore, cut across class status to some extent.

Popular Pharisees

• Paul (Philippians 3:5-6)

• Josephus

• Hillel and Shammai

• Nicodemus

Pharisee Politics

• According to Josephus, they were heavily involved in Hasmonean politics.

• Some scholars suggest that Jesus opposed the Pharisees because the party was agitating for revolt against. There is little evidence for this position.

• The Pharisees of the first century show little political interest. Jesus chose not to condemn the Pharisees for militarism.

• However at the time of the revolt against Rome, the Pharisee Simon ben Gamaliel, along with several colleagues supported the rebels.

Pharisee Orthodoxy

• Pharisees may be characterized by a distinctive way of living, a strong concern for orthopraxy and orthodoxy, and thus social involvement that promoted revival and reform.

• Matthew 23 connects them to Scribes and are the “correct” interpreters of Torah.

• Josephus says the Pharisees are considered the most accurate interpreters of the laws.

• Rabbinic sources suggest that the Pharisees were interested in extending the sanctity of the Temple to the home.

• How laws and beliefs were to be implemented differed among Pharisaic groups. There were divisions in the movement, the most famous being between Hillel and Shammai.

Pharisee Motive

• Pharisees may be characterized by a distinctive way of living, a strong concern for orthopraxy and orthodoxy, and thus social involvement that promoted revival and reform.

• A new world was kept at bay by the sinfulness of their contemporaries, so the Pharisees cherished their elite spiritual status and treated “sinners” with shame, exclusion, and contempt.

Where Did the Pharisees Go Wrong?

• Jesus’ had the strongest words for the Pharisees (cf. Matthew 23:1-39)

• The Pharisees had become obsessed with the Old Testament Law as a means of controlling the masses.

• The Pharisees were controlled by fear.

How Religious Fear Works

• Belligerence in theological discussions is a reaction to a deep fear—typically unperceived—that one’s metanarrative is under threat.

• People fight about their views of God because they are afraid of the consequences of being wrong. Being wrong about God destabilizes their way of looking at the universe and their place in it.

• When engaged in potentially theological dialogue, rather than fear we need to trust that God is bigger than our arguments, our intellects, and sacrosanct theological systems.

Nicodemus

• Mentioned only in the Gospel of John, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council.

• His encounter with Jesus is recorded in detail in John 3:1-21.

• Clearly interested in what he heard about Jesus, Nicodemus decided he should talk to him alone and came to see him under the cover of dark, probably for fear of the comments from his colleagues were he to come openly.

Born Again

• It’s an expression that means born from above or born from the top.

• It means to start over from the beginning.

Eternal Life

• Ainious zoe is used 17 times in the Gospel.

An aion refers to a period without a definitive end.

Though the term “eternal life” remains somewhat mysterious, it probably means to know and experience the life of God (see 17:3) which death cannot destroy.

It can also refer to the life of the age to come.

Additional References: John 7:50-51; 19:39

MARY MAGDALENE

Introduction ➢ Related Scriptures: Matthew 27:56, 61; 28:1; Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1-19; Luke 8:2; 24:10; John 19:25; 20:1-18.

• Sex worker, saint, sinner, witness, wife? • Before the cross, she is found only once in the Gospel tradition: Luke’s notices that she had been possessed by seven demons but cured by Jesus.

• She and other women provide Jesus financial support. Her Name

• A popular first century name.

• She is distinguished from the other Mary(s) by the name Magdalene.

Her Identity

• In the gospels several women named Mary come into the story of Jesus.

• Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26-35)

• Mary of Bethany (John 11)

• Mary the mother of James and Joseph (Mark 15:40)

• Mary the wife of Clopas (John 19:25)

Her Home

• Magdala means “tower” or “castle,” and in the time of Christ was a thriving, populous town on the coast of Galilee about three miles from Capernaum.

• Magdala was also the home of Jewish leader Yosef ben Matityahu (later known as historian Josephus Flavius).

First Meeting (Luke 8:1-3)

• Luke introduces several women whom Jesus cured and who then followed him and supported him “out of their means.” • Among them is Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone forth (c.f. Mark 16:9). At the Last Supper? • There is a debate whether the effeminate figure to Jesus’s right was in fact Mary Magdalene. • The significance of her seat lies in the prized position above the twelve male apostles.

The Controversy

• Since 1969, when the Catholic Church admitted that it had mistakenly identified Mary Magdalene as a sex worker, the call for women in church leadership positions grew louder.

The Crucifixion Accounts

• Mary appears in all four Crucifixion scenes (Mark 15:40; Matt. 27:56; Luke 23:49; John 19:25), and in all the lists, her name is given first.

The Resurrection Accounts

• Mark’s scene is ironic that she comes to anoint the body, but it is too late (Mark 14:8). • In Matthew’s account she comes to “watch” the tomb when she experiences as angelophany. She runs to report the Resurrection and is greeted by Jesus (28:9-10) and receives a commission. • Luke diminishes her role by emphasizing the male disciples. The Johannine Garden Account • In John, there is only one woman at the tomb, not three. • Mary runs to Peter and the Beloved Disciple (20:2) to announce the empty tomb. She speaks in the plural. Why “we”? • Mary sees two angels where Jesus was lain (20:12). • Mary supposes to see the gardener. It is Jesus and she clings to him (20:17).

The Symbolism

• The garden reference suggests Eden; according to Ambrose and Augustine, given that woman was the source of sin, she first receives the cure.

Non-Biblical Accounts

• The Acts of Philip • The Gospel of Thomas • The Gospel of Philip • The Gospel of Mary Magdalene • Ecclesiastical History of Zacharias Rhetor

Questions to Consider

• Without Mary Magdalene’s vision of the risen Christ, could Christianity have survived? • Why are there such strong desires on the part of many to depict Mary Magdalene as a prostitute? As Jesus’ lover or wife? • Do the Gnostic texts have any historical credibility? How might one tell?