The martyr's martyr

I tend to disagree but this is the first defence of Judas I've ever seen. How was he a pawn when he willingly betrayed Jesus? Also he didn't have to be a disciple, and Jesus could have made the sacrifice without him. I wouldnt categorize him as a martyr either, he died by his own hand. But I'm willing to hear another side. I think of the character Gollum as a type of Judas, not entirely necessary to the completion of the mission but somehow adding to it in a twisted way.

I'm not well versed enough in Calvinist or Protestant theology to give a cohesive argument for or against predestination in all its facets. However the notion that God has chosen from all eternity only a certain number of elect souls who will go to heaven and has given them special privileges while neglecting or even sabotoging other souls' efforts at being good doesn't really make sense nor is it a belief of Catholics like me. Every soul is destined for heaven and equipped with the grace they need and given the opportunities to know God at some point during their life but not all souls will choose to go there.

And Paul could be talking about all souls there, God is omniscient, He knows every soul He creates. Therefore He wants every soul to be conformed to Jesus, why would Jesus have gone through all his agony and death for 144 souls only out of billions? Is that even logical?

“God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1037). It also rejects the idea of unconditional election, stating that when God “establishes his eternal plan of ‘predestination,’ he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace” (CCC 600).

I'm no biblical scholar but I know plenty about playing devil's advocate. In my diseased imagination, Jesus asked Judas to betray him and Judas reluctantly agreed only out of extreme devotion to Jesus. His subsequent suicide was to escape the crushing weight of guilt over his role in Jesus's demise, even though it was his loyalty to Jesus that led him to agree to play the role of betrayer in the first place.

It was a difficult sacrifice for Judas to make, both contributing directly to the murder of Jesus, as well as cementing his legacy as a traitor in the annals of history. He found the strength to follow through with the act, but ultimately not enough to bear the burden of grief after the fact.

I offer no evidence of nor defense for this postulation. It's just an idle thought that's crossed my mind from time to time. A curious "what if" if you will.

Interesting twist. So Judas is the real hero in the gospel of SaintRanger, lol

Just more than the villain he's made out to be. More like a faithful lieutenant serving his general.

In the sense that the role of the betrayer of Jesus had to be fulfilled, yes, but Judas chose that role of his own free will.
Matthew 26:24 "The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born."
It had already been prophesied how Jesus would be betrayed, but it's not as if God specifically chose Judas to be the betrayer, rather, Judas chose that himself.

I guess whether or not Judas did it to take one for the team, thus sparing anyone else his fate, he still would have been better off if his mom had just gotten an abortion.