In this episode we see Judas in the grip of “not God.” That’s Jesus’s response to Judas’s question. Jesus has said to him, “He has you now.” “Who?” said Judas. “Not God.”

Judas is happy Jesus called him to be a disciple. He wholeheartedly believes Jesus is the Messiah. He’s a true believer. But he doesn’t understand what Jesus means by “Messiah.” He also doesn’t trust Jesus to know what he’s doing. The other disciples are confused. They don’t understand what Jesus is doing. But they still trust Jesus.

In a long conversation with Jesus, Judas expresses his frustration to Jesus. “Why’d you call me, Master, if you won’t listen to my advice.” Judas thinks his calling is to be the wise one to advise the Messiah.

Judas’s deep confusion leads him to hand Jesus over to the authorities. We’ll see in a future episode how the producers of The Chosen have him rationalize his betrayal. Given his status as a “true believer,” it’s likely they’ll have him believing that handing Jesus over will force his hand, compel him to finally “Reclaim his birthright,” and be the Messiah Judas knows he’s supposed to be.

I notice Christians still have a tendency to offer Jesus advice. We still think Jesus doesn’t rightly understand what it means to be Messiah (Or Savior, or Lord, etc.). Jesus chose us, intelligent, wise, and dedicated as we are, to give him advice, to make up for his deficiencies. No more of that “turn the other cheek” or “take up your cross” nonsense. “Jesus, what you need to do is show them who’s boss! Put them in their place!” Maybe we don’t even admit the other side of that, our urging Jesus to put us in our place, a place of ruling and authority, a place of setting things right. We don’t want to say that out loud, unwilling to admit that we don’t think Jesus knows what he’s doing.