The Tragedy of Judas in The Chosen

When Judas is first introduced in The Chosen (Season 2, Episode 8), he and his mentor comment about Greek playwrights and the nature of comedy and tragedy.

In past Jesus-related movies and series, Judas was often characterized as the obvious villain. In The Chosen, however, Judas is set up to have a tragic character arc.

Betrayal isn’t as obvious as it appears. The reason betrayal hurts so much is because we put trust in someone and then that trust gets broken. What will lead to Judas inevitably betraying the trust that the fellow Apostles had with him?

Hubris: Ambition and Lack of Humility

Judas’s main character flaw in the Bible is his greed. It was stated that he was embezzling money from Jesus’s ministry. However, while The Chosen’s version of Judas is characterized as being focused on money, it’s not necessarily the love of money that motivates his actions. Judas is driven by ambition and pride. In other words, he has hubris.

Hubris is a flaw common in Greek tragedies, in which mere mortals have an amount of pride that’s considered dangerous.

Throughout The Chosen, Season 4, there are moments where Judas shows a lack of humility. Since he was the last to join the Apostles, he wasn’t used to doing the mundane chores such as laundry or making flour. The other Apostles have chopped firewood, plowed fields, set up tents, gathered food, etc. However, all Judas can think about is treating Jesus’s ministry like a business.

Judas is obsessed with the idea of legacy. He wants to do something that makes a difference, do great feats that people will remember throughout history. It makes sense why he doesn’t find meaning in doing mundane things. Unfortunately, not wanting to do the small things comes off as arrogance, like he’s above doing stuff he’d rather hire servants to do.

Saint Therese said: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”

In other words, Judas gotta check his privilege.

The World Without Hope

There’s a very telling line that Judas says in his introductory episode: "There is only One True King in heaven and everyone else, even Caesar, is enjoying illusions of power and wealth. Sooner or later, we all become dust."

At the time of Jesus’s ministry, the concept of nihilism wasn’t a thing. However, there were some Jewish people who didn’t believe in an afterlife. Being the failed philosopher that I am, however, I recognized Judas’s statement as sounding like nihilism, reflecting the idea that eventually, we will all die and everything will come to an end, so nothing we do really matters. It’s a perspective that lacks hope.

Without hope or any desire to create good things for the sake of just doing good, money and power are all that Judas has to create the legacy he wants. While the Sons of Thunder also aspire for positions of power, especially after Peter gets appointed as the “Rock,” they quickly get called out for not knowing what they’re signing up for.

In Season 4, the inevitability of Jesus’s passion and death starts to become like a ticking clock, the sword that hangs over Jesus’s head. It’s clear that Jesus in His humanity, He dreads what will come. However, the concept of rising from the dead was only seen as necromancy, not in the way that the Resurrection changes things.

Judas’s inevitable suicide won’t be because he was greedy. His ambition and pride, much like many a Greek tragedy, will lead to his undoing.