Understanding Judas

 I, like many Americans am in debt, but here’s the catch. My entire life all I’ve ever known is public service and ministry. I own a business, but honestly being in a society that sees what they want to see I have to take a lot of heat. America is filled with numerous groups pushing agendas and many of these agendas have nothing to do with the greater good of the public. It’s basically a society where a number of people see themselves in huge houses they can ill afford away from those whom they are financially obligated to pay the debts that they owe to. The first question is would Judas charge interest? I ask this as a metaphor, but to be honest I’ve seen people die for the mighty dollar so I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Women and men selling themselves with no choice and in the end be worse off than they were before. Financial geniuses sitting in a packed room counting and handling IRA dollars in exchange for their kickbacks. Mega churches and educational institutions probing the brains of future scholars. Political icons trading stocks only to realize that being a political figure is the equivalent of a punching bag that in the end causes aneurisms and death threats because no one seems to see themselves in the mirror. Tomorrow I have the choice to get up and keep taking out high interest loans to serve the public or go do something else with my retirement income. Sadly, due to a flaw in society, I’ve rather enjoyed witnessing my fate with a low credit score. I’ve enjoyed talking  to customer service representatives stacking on late fees. The birthday cards are the best. They’ve shown me more love than my family and friends at times, and, “yes,” I am the victim. I’ve made friends with these institutions because as a victim I made the decision to invest in people by any means necessary. I mean the calls after you pass the grace periods are endless and the settlement offers on recorded lines really give you a sense of hope. Then there’s the bait and switch calls. They use a lot of AI to calculate your mega deal and they get a kick out of using a high loan dollar amount to draw you in. They actually add up all of your debt, convince you to jump off of a sinking ship and while on their life boat at a small fee they’ll settle your debts and kindly repair your ship. I can just imagine the conversations they have with their coworkers, but I’m not going to complain, but in a sense it seems like I literally have no choice but to take out high interest loans to finance my own ambitions because when I tried to do it the old fashioned way the banks looked at my failed marriage and bankruptcy and kindly sent me back to the pit of hell to fight my way back to financial freedom. Growing older, I’ve learned a lot from this experience. I’ve learned a lot about financial literacy and I’ve learned a lot about people and personal responsibility. I’ve also learned a lot about the mind of Judas. He may have saw no value in healing and investing in people. He also may have thought Christ himself got what he deserved for caring about the people whom Judas may have thought were poor investments. Maybe Judas didn’t believe in Christ dream or maybe he was jealous. Owning a business, I find myself at a crossroad with these two schools of thought every time I decide to open up my doors for service. I see the politician asking for my vote; I see the clergy asking for my soul; I see the customer looking for a deal and I see the banks asking for interest and I see myself out numbered trying to survive. Sadly, in the story, Christ dies a horrible death in a triumphant rise to the kingdom that he preached about; the kingdom of heaven, while Judas dies by suicide and all of Christ disciples watching, seemingly afraid to save a hero who spent his life saving others. In the end one lesson can be learned from Judas and his followers and that is that there is a long bloodline of treasures counting the change, but many of these individuals see no value in the principle as they raise the interest rates and as time passes by in the end a poor man only has one thing to look forward to and that is a meal ticket and the kingdom of heaven. Unlike Christ, Judas would probably tell him to get a job, charge him interest on everything as he rides around glistening in gold and as the poor soul dies a slow death the great Judas would probably charge him for the pills to heal him after spiking his drink at a late night get together with no money to pay for his funeral and no bail money if he goes to jail trying to save Christ on the cross. In the story we find a man who clearly understood and loved money, but eventually ends up having a conscience because he kills himself after selling out the dream. The dream of heaven on earth filled with peace and good will towards all. This story gives us two lessons to learn, one is the price of sacrifice and the other the actual value of material possessions. In the end we learn that with God, even with nothing, you’ve won because you can take nothing with you in the end.

Understanding Judas