Thoughts on the Gospel of Judas

When I first saw the news I was intrigued by the opportunity to re examine the story of Judas Iscariot's last days in a new light.
When I mentioned it at an intimate family get together, before the news had come generalized, one person adamantly denied any possible veracity to the story, hotly declaring that the only valid gospels are the ones included in the New Testament. I was taken aback by the passion with which she brusquely stubbed out the subject.
Since then it seems like everyone has gotten into a gigantic twist about it which intrigues me to no end. Everywhere I turn, it seems, people, from the local parish priest to the Pope himself, are furiously denouncing this collection of fragments hundreds of years old. Why is everyone so upset?
Heretical. Eternal damnation. Betrayal. Traitor.
These are some of the vituperations I have read in the reactions of these men of God. One notable professor of theology, a Jesuit Father, went so far as to say: "The Gospel of Judas was junk in 180 a.c. and is junk today." Phew! That was somewhat harsh!
I wonder if we are capable of pausing just for a moment to consider what we may learn, not necessarily historically, from these bits of papyrus. What could we gain by turning a well-known and accepted story on its head just for a moment?
A few of the articles I've read condemning these miniscule scraps of paper quotes Matthew 26:24 who has Jesus declare "It would be better for that man if he had never been born." This affirmation can be interpreted in different ways.
Judging from the vicious reactions of the populace to one tiny whisper from the past breathing a new life into him, I would say that is true. A condemnation like no other has befallen Judas and the loathing he has generated over the centuries has shown no signs of subsiding. On the basis of all the panic this "Gospel" has spawned I am tempted to declare that the abhorrence of Judas seems stronger today than it ever was.
It appears as if we are so attached to the concept of his sinfulness and have become so dependent on the place he occupies in our collective psyches that we react like cornered cats to even the remotest possibility of it being challenged.
Could it be that we need to hate Judas?
Does Judas' transgression make ours seem paltry by comparison? Does his sin somehow make it easier for us to live with ours? What would happen to us if our concept of Judas could be pried from our desperate little fingers? Would we find some one else to take his place? Pilate? Herod? The Jews?
Or would we have to let go of our hate? I propose that the advent of this controversy is a summons to us all. A summons for self examination. Rather than debate the "incompatibility with the Christian faith" of this document, maybe we should examine the incompatibility of our reactions to the mere proposition that Judas could have been worthy of Jesus' love. Matthew 22:35 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
I see no excepting clauses in this statement. In the accepted writings of the Bible, Jesus is very clear on this point. According to this second commandment we shall love Judas as ourselves. Jesus himself says so. We can be sure, according to this, that Jesus loved Judas- as himself!! It is the commandment. We should love him too. If we are going to live in a manner consistent with Christian teachings then we too should love Judas just as much as we love ourselves.

There might be problem here. Could our incapacity to forgive and love Judas be paralleling our incapacity to forgive and love ourselves? Could the violence of our reactions to the Gospel of Judas be a defense mechanism against turning inward? After all, it is much easier to sustain hatred for ourselves and Judas (something as familiar and comfortable as an old shoe), than to learn to love and accept ourselves (and Judas) regardless of our shortcomings.

Can we forgive ourselves for our sins well enough to forgive Judas as well?
Some of us pray everyday.
"and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us"
In the earlier quote from Matthew 22:35, Jesus says, "and the second is like unto it" "it" being the first commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." "and the second is like unto it" I understand this to mean that loving God, your neighbor and you are all the same thing, they are all interrelated.
I would go even further as to say, you cannot truly do one without by default doing the other two. If we do not find love in our hearts for poor Judas, the most despised man in the Bible, perhaps even in history, perhaps we cannot find it for ourselves, perhaps we cannot even find it for God. (After all, aren't we all Judases in our own eyes sometimes?)

In order for us to experience God's all encompassing love in our hearts we must actually, literally, physically feel that warm cozy sensation of being loved. Once we have done this, physically felt God's UNCONDITIONAL love for us, and known that "our trespasses" have been forgiven- well, then, we are loving ourselves. Once we forgive our own trespasses, it is a short trip to forgive those of our neighbors.

Perhaps the apparition of the Gospel of Judas in the midst of these trying times is a challenge to our devotion to the word of God himself irregardless of what any piece of paper may state. Are we truly striving in our lives, from day to day to Love our neighbor, no matter his color, religion, correspondence, political party, reputation, sinfulness, or lack thereof?
Love God, enough to accept being damned by your brethren for all time? Love and forgive yourself unconditionally as completely and totally as God has loved Judas?