Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “kudos”, came with the email note, “Kudos to Judas! I wonder what he’s doing with himself these days?”
And of course Judas should indeed be praised by Christians, for without him how would the central story of Christianity have played out? Judas clearly had no free will, for his betrayal of Jesus was the result of either God or the laws of physics—take your choice.
I have to admit that I love the term “Crucifiction,” and I wonder why I haven’t heard it before.
That are me laugh. When I was a child and a Christian, this was one of my “this doesn’t make sense, but I guess the adults know better” stories. i.e. Judas was portrayed as a bad guy, but he was clearly doing exactly what Jesus and/or God wanted and the whole plan would have fallen apart if he hadn’t done it, so why does he get such a bad press?
With me, it was the way Pontius Pilate was regarded despite the fact that he literally washed his hands of the whole affair.
And “crucifiction” is great , but I’ve never come across it before.
I didn’t notice the crucifiction thing until Jesus brought it up in the fourth panel.
And, if I had bothered to read the Bible as a child, I would also have had questions about the manner of Jesus’ death.
Not Jesus: Judas.
I felt a little sympathy for the devil for the same reason. Eve might also need a reassessment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_a6RjR_AHY
The whole story of the Fall is backwards. It makes much more sense if it is framed with God being the evil one and the serpent rescuing Adam and Eve from being captive in his garden and rescuing them from ignorance, of course.
Your pastor (or god-squaddies in your region) are probably preparing a stake and some firewood for you.
In their black hearts at least.
At the last supper Jesus told the disciples that the next day one of them would betray him and another would deny him. Jesus was a determinist. He didn’t have free will or he would have got the hell out of Jerusalem like any sensible person.
You have some evidence supporting the assertion that “Jesus” (if he even existed) was a sensible person?
According to the Gnostic Gospel of Judas, he and Jesus had the whole deal worked out between them from the jump.
And according to a skinny Jewish kid from Hibbing, MN, you’ll have to decide whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.
And there’s this, a line from a prayer recited during the Easter Vigil: “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” So the whole deal was worked out/determined from the very jump of Creation. No one is to blame; everyone had no choice but to perform their role in the Divine Playwright’s play.
Good one. Judas’ “betrayal” is nicely depicted in this episode of Sunday Heroes, highly recommended!
Actually “crucifiction” has appeared on this website before — in a comment to which I replied “First off, let’s please, please get the spelling right: it’s “crucifixion”, with an “x”, which means “stuck on a cross”. “Crucifiction” with a “c” is just too ripe for mockery, and we’re all very polite at this website!”
How does this author do it – outdoes themselves almost every comic!
“I have to admit that I love the term “Crucifiction,” and I wonder why I haven’t heard it before.”
Perhaps because it only works in print and not aurally. It’s a shame because it is a nice concept.
From another angle, the only thing I can see as a cultural phenomenon in the cruciFIXion, it FIXed a lie that would endure for centuries…
And very good returns it was for the church and minions of.
Once more J & M slay the concept of religion.
Made my day!
Brilliant.
Of course, jesus’ cruciFICTION follows by pure logic from jesus’ non-existence. And that’s science too, isn’t it!
The idea that the betrayal by Judas was predetermined and that his sacrifice was superior even to that of Jesus is dealt with exquisitely in the Borges story Three Versions of Judas, as well as in the The Last Temptation of Christ, both the Kazantzakis book and the Scorsese film. The protests against the film, including the use of an incendiary device at a Paris cinema, were inspired in part by the purported blasphemy of treating Judas not as the central villain of the Christ myth, but a hero who was essential to helping god achieve his purpose. Also props for teaching me ‘crucifiction’. What a delightfully profanity.
The reason why I consider monthly giving to this grand artist is jewels like this. Plus I’ve interacted with him and he’s true and considerate. Consider giving to other fine artists and critics as well…go down the rabithole of Patreon. Maybe one day it will be easier to html that word on wordpress.
I was interested ho read that Elgar, although a Roman Catholic, ending up thinking death mean oblivion…