I is for ISCARIOT

I have often wondered about some of the most infamous people in society, not so much because of the despicable deeds that they are remembered for, but more so in relation to the exact point in their lives when a change occurred that caused them to turn form relatively normal human beings into the monsters that made them worldwide news. I think of a young Adolph Hitler, raised in Austria with his brothers and sisters and a mother who was his father's third wife, where most of his siblings didn't reach adulthood, a boy supposedly beaten by his father until he reached the stage that he resolved not to cry when this happened, a lad who seemed to have no appetite for school work and dropped out of the education system by the age of sixteen, who failed to follow his father's wishes to become a custom's official like his dad, but instead chose the career of an artist until he finally ended up penniless and without a home. A young man who would never serve the country of his birth in war but would fight for his adopted nationality across the border and one day would allow his hatred of Jews to resurface with dire consequences. Maybe it's not so hard to work out why he became a monster.

I think of a young Saddam Hussein, born into a family of shepherds in Iraq, given a name by his mother that means 'one who confronts' and never knowing his father who left before he was born. A young boy who would spend the first few years of life living with his uncle before returning to his remarried mother and then being harshly treated by his new step-father before escaping home to go back to his uncle, a veteran Iraqi nationalist and eventually marrying his uncle's daughter by which time much of his future thinking had carefully been moulded into his mind though high school, law school and his uncle's support for revolution. And we wonder why he turned out the way he did.


I think of Idi Amin, born somewhere in Uganda in the first quarter of the last century, but whose early home life was also disrupted by the absence of a father and whose school life ended early. I think of an outstanding soldier who on first coming to power, was welcomed by the whole world for his ideals of a democracy being reestablished in his home country. The fact that he never gave much more than lip service to his original intentions would soon be seen throughout the ravages that Uganda would experience during his presidency, but somewhere along the line there must have been a change in his thinking.


I think of many others, maybe less infamous on a world scale, whose memories are less than cherished. Of Harold Shipman, a doctor who became a serial killer but whose early history, apart from a minor drugs offence, never suggested the deaths to which he would sink. Of Fred West, whose tortured early years would have a profound effect on his later life and who would become equally gruesome in his own tortures. Of Peter Sutcliffe, a loner at school who also left education early and moved from job to job with out any real commitment, but nothing concrete from his past suggested that he would murder thirteen people in just over five years.


And I think of Judas the one they called Iscariot, who would be known for ever as the disciple who betrayed Jesus, who sold his master for thirty pieces of silver, who suddenly realised his wrong doing but could never turn back the clock once the wheels had been set in motion and who tragically took his own life. And I think of a young man who left whatever job he had to follow this Jesus, who didn't have to think twice before going, who spent over three years in the company of God, witnessing His miracles, His words and His compassion, who looked after the money for the disciples, but who would ultimately find money to be his downfall. And somewhere in those three years, Judas changed for ever. I wondered was it the time he rebuked Mary for wasting expensive perfume on Jesus, suggesting that it could have been sold to feed the poor. I wondered did he really mean what he said then. I wondered had he become envious of Jesus or other disciples who seemed to be closer to his master. I wondered did he know already when Jesus told him that he would be the betrayer and I wonder did he ever give any real thought to the consequences for the rest of mankind. Whatever his reasons, simple show of affection kissed not only the future of his master goodbye but also his own. But I don't have to wonder why we rarely hear of a new born baby boy being named Judas by his parents. Yet in the great scheme of God's planning, Judas was a necessary part of delivering Jesus to be crucified. How strange the way God works to achieve His plans!


On this Palm Sunday, as we remember the crowds singing Hosanna in the streets and waving the palm branches, we also remember their silence in a courtroom and a hillside a few days later and we also remember, like Judas, that we can live in the very shadow of our Saviour, witness His power and greatness around us, even pray to Him and sing hymns of praise and still not really know Him at all. 'May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.' (Psalm 19v14)