A Vacation Bible School teacher, one summer, taught class on Judas' betrayal of Jesus. After the lesson, she went over the review questions and asked, "Who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver?"

Without hesitating, her 7-year-old son replied, "I know! It was 'Judas the Scariest!' " (1)

For me Judas was the Scariest disciple of all. He's the most frightening character of the entire Passion story. He's more frightening than Pilate or Herod or Caiaphas and the other accusers. To me, Judas is even more frightening than the guards who nailed Jesus to the cross. Now I'm not talking Frankenstein or Freddie Kruger kind of frightening. He wasn't some misshapen monster or someone who haunts our dreams. Judas is more frightening than that because both of those we know are fiction. But Judas was r…