Publisher's Synopsis
Some stories are enabled by divine order.
Before dawn on the day after Passover, Judas Iscariot took up his pen one last time. The rope waited. The field of blood beckoned. But first, he had to tell his truth.
What if the betrayer's kiss was not treachery but liberation? What if Christ chose his own executioner?
For two thousand years, Judas has been history's ultimate villain-the betrayer who sold the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver. But what if we've been reading the story wrong?
Drawing from the canonical Gospels and the explosive Gnostic Gospel of Judas discovered in Egypt, this historical reconstruction gives voice to Christianity's most hated man. Through his own testimony, we encounter a different Judas: educated where the others were simple, calculating where they were impulsive, and perhaps-most tragically-the only disciple who truly understood what Jesus was asking of him.
"You will sacrifice the man that clothes me," Jesus whispered to Judas alone.
If the Son does nothing alone, who guided the betrayer's hand?
This manuscript doesn't excuse Judas-it explains him. Through his eyes, we witness:
- The secret teachings Jesus shared with individual disciples
- The growing opposition that made the crucifixion inevitable
- The terrible moment when Jesus gave him the bread and commanded, "What you must do, do quickly"
- The unbearable weight of being chosen for history's darkest role
Was Judas a failed revolutionary trying to force Jesus to reveal his power? A tragic figure who loved his master but couldn't accept a suffering Messiah? Or the only disciple strong enough to turn the key that would free the Light of the World from its prison of flesh?
Through tears and revelation, calculation and mysticism, human anguish and cosmic purpose, Judas's final testimony forces us to confront the most uncomfortable questions of faith: Can there be salvation without a betrayer? If God orchestrates all things, who bears the guilt? And most haunting of all-could Judas have been forgiven if he'd only waited three more days?
"Remember me, if at all, as the one who saw too much and loved too terribly to let him stay."
Perfect for readers of historical fiction, biblical scholarship, and anyone who's ever wondered about the human heart behind history's most infamous act. This work includes a comprehensive theological analysis exploring divine necessity versus human choice, the nature of forgiveness, and what Judas's story reveals about our own capacity for both devotion and betrayal.
Not all stories end in redemption. Some end with a tree, a rope, and love that destroyed itself through understanding too well.
