The uninteresting survivor

C. K. Stead was Professor of English literature in the University of Auckland and is a highly esteemed literary critic and author. He is not, to my knowledge, a theologian but was urged to write this novel about the life of Judas Iscariot by the professor of religious studies at Victoria University because, ‘These are our stories. They must be constantly retold.’ Stead has, I would guess, used his recent awards to visit the Holy Land, for the beauty of Galilee, its atmosphere and light, and the looming presence of Jerusalem are some of the best things in the book. The novel itself is oddly disappointing.

It is based on the far from new idea that Judas did not commit suicide after the crucifixion by hanging himself on the fig tree once cursed by Christ. He lived on, a wandering Jew, his memory hated by the growing numbers of Christians and eventually was considered to be the Devil himself. Stead has him as a man who survived that terrible Passover to escape to Sidon on the Mediterranean coast. He had not betrayed Christ with a kiss but grabbed his arms in Gethsemane and told him to run for it. There were no 30 pieces of silver to fling away onto earth that never afterwards bore fruit. He simply walked off into another country back to the merchant class to which he belonged, passed himself off as a Greek, married and raised a family and is still hale and hearty at 70 years old. The agonies and ecstasies of his time with Jesus do not leave him, but he sees the whole thing as a pitiful mistake:

Our friend was
not the Messiah nor
will there be one.
This is the truth
I write,
It will not hurt you.
Grasp it.