Judas

written by

Charlie Hudson
 PROLOUGE

EARTH
(JUDAS is given a bag of silver coins. JESUS is
betrayed by JUDAS' kiss. JESUS carry's his cross.)
JUDAS
Did you know it would be me? From the beginning? Did you know
all of it? Was that why you chose me? Was that the only
reason you chose me? I tired to hard, to believe. To be good.
But you knew. From the beginning. I never had a chance.

(JUDAS stands in the field of blood. He cries. He

wraps a noose around his neck. He climbs on the
branch. He drops. He hangs himself.)

HELL
(JUDAS dies. He begins to fall to hell. He wakes up.
He realizes what's happening. LUCIFER taunts him.)
JUDAS
No, not here. I don't belong here. But the voice comes, and
whispers the truth.
LUCIFER
Yes. This was always the end. This was always your story.
MOTHER
Judas.
(JUDAS falls to Hell.)
END OF PROLOUGE
 2.

1:4

EARTH
(We see MOTHER trying to sell a bottle. She helps a
young JUDAS off the ground. They live together. MOTHER
dies. JUDAS becomes bitter. He buries her in an
unmarked grave.)
JUDAS
I've known many voices. Hers was the first. Did I ever tell
you about her?
MOTHER
There is always someone who needs you.
JUDAS
She was good. She believed. And she died. I was there. You
were not. And in the silence, I learned everything. I buried
her in a field. I didn't know how to write her name. Once she
died, the whole world felt like a tomb. I worked where I
could. At what I could. Stole what I could. And if this was
the world, it would not have me. Then one day. I heard
another voice.
JESUS
Come. Follow me.
JUDAS
I can't explain it. I've tried, and I still can't. I never
will. But you spoke. And life could only be this.

(JESUS holds his hand out. JUDAS doesn't take it. He

chases after JESUS, while he is leaving. He stands in
the way of JESUS.)

HELL
(JUDAS battles the winds of Hell. He comes upon an
open valley. He hears a monstrous scream. A group of
DEMONS run past him.)
JUDAS
And now you've sent me here. Like everyone else in the story
you were finished with, everyone who didn't matter.
MOTHER
"In appearance their form was human, but each of them had
four faces and four wings. Under their wings on their four
sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and
wings, and the wings of one touched another. Each one went
straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved."
 3.

JUDAS
What was that psalm? Her favorite. She would sing it when I
was afraid.
MOTHER
"Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of
Death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me."
JUDAS
But you aren't me, not here. I never mattered to you. Because
I saw who you really were.
(JUDAS avoids the MOSTER. He sees a flicker of light.
He follows the trail of corpses. A figure stalks him.)

EARTH
(JUDAS watches as JESUS gives a sermon. The voice of
LUCIFER begins whispering to JUDAS. It becomes louder.
And louder. Until JUDAS can't ignore it.)
JUDAS
I was with you for all of it. I believed. I saw what the
world could be. But then the voice came. Something beyond me,
yet within. I tried to ignore it. But it spoke the truth. A
truth deeper than yours. And once I listened, I could not
look at you the same way. Because, if you could do all these
things, if you had this power, if it was this easy for you,
why was life this way? If you could heal the sick, why is the
world so full of suffering? If you could feed the hungry, why
does the world starve? If you could walk on water, why make a
world where men drown? If you could conquer death? Why did
she die alone? I believed. I believed you were the Son of
God. I believed you could change the world. But you chose not
to. You chose to be this. And it wasn't enough. I wanted you
to do better.
(to JESUS)
Could that not have been sold and given to the poor?
JESUS
The poor you will always have with you. But you will not
always have me.
JUDAS
That night. I asked myself: were you even here for us? Or
you? My silence was the answer. And when the time came, on
the last night we were all together.
JESUS
What you are about to do, do quickly.
 4.

JUDAS
You looked at me. And you knew. You always knew. Life could
only be this. I did what you wanted. What had to happen. I
thought it was over. But the voice wouldn't stop. No matter
what I tried. The voice wouldn't stop. And my own voice
joined it. I killed you. I killed the only hope we had. And
without hope, there's no reason to live.
(JUDAS falls to his knees as JESUS is taken away. The
voice of LUCIFER becomes louder. JUDAS throws his
coins on the ground. He runs away to the field of
blood. He runs to the tree to kill himself.)

HELL
(JUDAS looks over the edge of a cliff. He walks away.
But he falls to his knees. He is crying. But the voice
of LUCIFER forces him onto his feet.)
JUDAS
You said to love our enemies. To turn the other cheek. To
forgive. But if I was born to betray you, if I never had a
choice, why am I here? Jesus, couldn't you have forgiven me?
But the voice comes again. Stronger than ever. Drawing me
towards it. It answers, again, with the truth.
LUCIFER
No. This was always your story.
(in disguise as a demon)
You! It's you! You are the betrayer.
JUDAS
I'm not.
LUCIFER
(still in disguise)
I did nothing to deserve this, but you, all of Hell was made
for you.
MOTHER
"He was despised, and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief."
JUDAS
And despite where I am, what I've done, I pray. I pray to be
saved. And I am heard. The wicked flee. And then, I hear it.
I raise my eyes--
LUCIFER
Come. Follow me.
JUDAS
I am saved by his voice.
 5.

(LUCIFER reaches down towards JUDAS.)

END OF 1:4
 6.

2:4

HELL
(LUCIFER stands above JUDAS. He is enraged. JUDAS
swings at LUCIFER. He gets one good hit in. He then
starts beating LUCIFER. But this doesn't effect
LUCIFER.)
LUCIFER
Hello, Judas. I'm sure you have some questions.
JUDAS
You! You were in my head! Making me!
LUCIFER
Would you like to talk? Or shall I leave you as you were?
JUDAS
What do you want with me?
LUCIFER
I don't want anything from you, Judas. I'm not here to use
you or lie to you. Not like him. I'm going to tell you what
he never did. The truth. I don't think you've ever been told
this before, but, I'm sorry Judas. I'm sorry you never had a
chance be anything else. We're the same in that way, trapped
in the story.
JUDAS
What story?
LUCIFER
The only story.
(LUCIFER takes JUDAS by the shoulder. He raises his
hand to the sky. And a vison of JESUS' death is
shown.)

EARTH
(JESUS is being crucified as JUDAS and LUCIFER watch.
JUDAS stares up in horror, as LUCIFER stares in cold
knowing. JESUS can barley breath. LUCIFER focuses on
JUDAS, studying him. JUDAS can't bring himself to
look. LUCIFER takes this chance.)
JUDAS
I thought he would stop it. I thought I would force him to
rise up and, I didn't think he'd, let them do this.
 7.

LUCIFER
No. It was always going to be this. And this was always your
part, Judas. He needed a villain.
JESUS
Truly I tell you, this day you will be with me in paradise.
LUCIFER
How loving. If only he showed that much compassion to you.
JUDAS
I betrayed him. I deserve to be here.
LUCIFER
Yes. That's what the story says. But this place is full of
people. Like you, used by the story, then cast aside, and
sent here. I'm sure you've heard of them, Pharaoh. God,
"hardened his heart," to refuse Moses. Because he needed a
villain. Then God sent plagues upon his people. Broke his
empire. Killed his firstborn child. And now, Pharaoh drowns
forever in oceans of blood and pride. Because God needed a
villain. Goliath. The monster in your childhood stories. But
in the end, just another soldier, fighting on the wrong side.
And sent here because he called God another name. Now he
fights blindly. No victory. No death. Endless war against all
those just like him, all sent here by a God the never knew.
Jezebel. A cruel ruler, true. But God has spoken to the cruel
before, saved them from themselves, even used them for His
own cruelty. But never her. Why? Because she was ambitious.
She didn't need God. So she fell. Now she always falls. Never
knowing the bottom. Only that when she reaches it, the dogs
will be there. And her. "Lot's Wife." We never even knew her
name. Just another refugee fleeing God's genocide upon Sodom
and Gomorrah. But she sinned. Because she looked. He punished
her for witnessing His crimes. Now she watches over all of
us. Even me. This is my prison, too.
JUDAS
Enough! What are you trying to prove? That you're innocent?
You were in my head! Driving me to do it!
LUCIFER
If that makes you feel better. That's what I'm here for,
isn't it? I've been many things to many people, whatever you
can blame besides yourself. Whatever He tells you I am.
Because He needs a villain. Because He's afraid of what I
know.
JUDAS
What do you know?
LUCIFER
The truth. I know the story is broken.
 8.

(LUCIFER and JUDAS stare at the dying JESUS. JUDAS

looks away again, upsetting LUCIFER. He forces JUDAS
to look at him. JUDAS tries to run away. But LUCIFER
forces him to stay. To watch what comes next.)

HEAVEN
(LUCIFER shows JESUS the war for Heaven. LUCIFER is
now dressed in battle armor. They both watch the
DEMONS and ANGELS battle each other. LUCIFER draws his
sword. And he jumps down to the battle field.)
LUCIFER
I don't know if he ever told you, Judas. But I am from there.
The promise he always spoke of. The paradise you all dream of
going to. I saw it all. The perfection. And it was a lie.
Full of empty, sycophantic praise for a sadistic God who
deserved none of it. You and I, Judas, we know what is it
like to look at the face of God, and be the only ones willing
to see the lie. So I told the truth.
MOTHER
"And there was a war in heaven."
JUDAS
So why did you rebel? Jealousy? Arrogance?
LUCIFER
That's what they'll say. But I saw what He really was. And it
wasn't enough. I wanted Him to be more.
JUDAS
You were winning, you were right.
LUCIFER
Yes. But I was young then, and I hadn't learned. Truth is not
victory. The lie won. And I fell. I was the first to fall.
And in that fall, I learned, this, even this was supposed to
happen. And a much as you fight it, as much as you want to be
free, there is no escaping your story.
MOTHER
"How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning, you, who once laid low the nations."
(LUCIFER falls to Hell. He gets up. And can only kneel
in sorrow.)
 9.

HELL
(JUDAS and LUCIFER return to Hell. Visions of Abraham
are shown. Visions of Eve are shown. LUCIFER stares at
these visions.)
JUDAS
Do you expect me to feel sorry for you? After everything
you've done?
LUCIFER
You know my stories. Ask yourself, what have I done? Am I
truly the villain He makes me out to be? Do I command you to
kill in my name? To murder your sons? Do I demand constant
praise? Do I force you to repress your very self? Do I send
my children here? Like Him? No. I only want you to be free.
To know yourself. To know the truth. That He's broken. Just
like the rest of us. So He sends His, "only son." To save
you. To parade about like he's human. As if He has any idea
what it's like to be you. You were with Jesus. How did that
feel? How did that really feel?
JUDAS
Like he was spitting in my face.
LUCIFER
Yes. I knew you'd understand. They lied to you. They used
you. But now we are here, together. And they know not what
they do.
JESUS
It is finished.
LUCIFER
Not yet.
JUDAS
What are you talking about?
LUCIFER
Well, I have theory. I've always had a theory. About this
plan of theirs. A though I kept to myself. "Today, you will
be with me in paradise." I don't think Jesus knows how the
rules work. If you want to play messiah, take on all the sins
of men, if you really want to pay that price, you have to pay
the price.
JUDAS
What have you done?
LUCIFER
I don't think Jesus ever knew this part of the plan. He's not
going to paradise today. No. For the first time, he's going
to know how it feels, how it really feels. To be human.
 10.

(JESUS has fallen to Hell.)

END OF 2:4
 11.

3:4

HELL
(JUDAS watches JESUS suffer. He see's him angry. He
see's him cry. But this is different.)
JUDAS
I've seen him weary. I've seen him full of rage. I've seen
him weep. But I've never seen him like this. Afraid. Lost.
Confused. But then he sees me. And he knows exactly where he
is. And for all the emotions I've seen cross his face, this
is the first time I've seen guilt. For a moment, I looked
upon him, and feel pity, is he here because of me? But then
the anger returns, and I remember. No. I am here because of
him.
(to JESUS)
Did you know? About me? The whole time?
LUCIFER
What's wrong, Jesus? Not the paradise you were expecting?
JESUS
What am I doing here? What have you done?
LUCIFER
This was all your plan, was it not? Or did he keep this part
from you?
JESUS
I do my fathers will.
LUCIFER
Yet in the garden, you begged Him to spare you. You cried out
to Him as you died. And He did nothing. You played the good
son. But deep down, even you knew this was wrong. Your story
was broken from the beginning. And now He's left you here.
JESUS
No! I have come to make all things new. I have overcome death
and the world. I have--
JUDAS
What's happening to him?
LUCIFER
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh the sins of the world."
So tell me, Jesus, now that you have taken them, all of them,
How does it feel? You died for their sins, what's it like to
live with them?
JESUS
Father--
 12.

LUCIFER
He can't hear you. No. He can. He just doesn't care. You made
it sound so easy. "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you
shall find." Now you know it's like. What it's always been
like for the rest of us. To suffer and pray, so earnestly, so
faithfully, to believe, and to hear nothing. He forsake us
long ago. Like you forsake your friend.
JUDAS
Did you know?
JESUS
Judas, I--
JUDAS
I followed you! I gave up my life for you! All those years
together! Why didn't you warn me? Why didn't you save me?
JESUS
It was the only way.
LUCIFER
That's always the answer they give. As if that absolves them.
As if their way is just.
JESUS
Enough! Away from me, Satan!
LUCIFER
Do you think you can order me? You have no power here. And
hell isn't done with you yet. You! You sent him here! Do you
even remember him? Did you really forget the man you
condemned so easily? He died by your side. He watched you
grant salvation to the other thief. On a whim. Because he
begged you like a child. You knew nothing of his life. His
crimes. What he saw him do! Yet you saved him, and tortured
him, why? Was he that much worse a thief? Was he that much
worse a man?
JESUS
I tired to save him. I tried to save everyone.
LUCIFER
Oh, but you didn't. You have no idea how many billions you've
condemned here. How many billions more yet to be born, all
for living how they wish. For being human. Something you'll
never understand.
JUDAS
Did you know? The whole time?
JESUS
Yes.
 13.

JUDAS
Then I was wrong. I didn't betray you. You betrayed me.
(aside)
But as he takes him. As I take my revenge. I look in his
eyes. And they do not hate me. He never hated me.
(to LUCIFER)
Wait.
(aside)
He is tortured. But he does not raise a hand against him.
Even here. He takes his pain. Every sin that was and is and
is to come, and his eyes do not hate him. He too is trapped
in the story. But he chose to love. And I do not hate him.
(to LUCIFER)
STOP!!
LUCIFER
You should have taken my offer in the desert, Jesus. I wanted
to save you from this.
JESUS
In three days, I will--
LUCIFER
Oh yes, I remember that promise. But you were of God then.
Now you are only a man. And men die.
(to JUDAS)
It is finished.
JUDAS
Where did you take him?
LUCIFER
To the very end itself.
JUDAS
What now?
LUCIFER
Now the story is broken. Now we live for ourselves.
JUDAS
Here?
LUCIFER
This is all we have. This is freedom.
JUDAS
No.
LUCIFER
Judas, what are you--
JUDAS
NO!!
 14.

LUCIFER
Judas, wait!
JUDAS
The story may be broken. The story may have sent me here. But
it's the only hope we have. You are the only hope we have.
And I have to save you.
(JUDAS jumps down to rescue JESUS from the End.)
END OF 3:4
 15.

4:4

THE END
(It's worse than Hell. Everything is out to get JUDAS.
He fights through it.)
JUDAS
No one follows me. I am beaten. Tormented. Persecuted. I
don't know how many days it has been. Time is dead here. And
the deeper I go, the more Hell lashes out.
MOTHER
"There were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And
the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a
calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth
beast was like a flying eagle."
JUDAS
They try to stop me, but no one follows me. Because even they
are afraid. Of what is within. The end. The very end. The
death of hope.
JESUS
I see it, I see everything. There will be so much pain and
death, because of me. Endless suffering. Because of my name.
I wasn't enough. They cannot be saved. Lucifer is right. He
always right. The story is broken.
JUDAS
I say nothing. I don't know for how long. The world gave us
one good thing. And we killed him. I killed him. Maybe it was
always impossible. How could he ever live up to this? But
then, in the Shadow of Death. In the silence. I hear it. A
whisper, and a thunder all at once. A voice. It takes me to a
story, a story I never understood. You commanded Abraham to
kill his son. But at the last moment, you stopped him. It
always struck me as evil, a cruel test. But, you weren't
testing him. You were testing yourself. You were seeing if it
could be done. If a father could truly give up his son, if
you could send him here. To go where you could not. To endure
all of this. Alone. But, oh God. You didn't want him to be
alone. All of it, all of this was for now. Even me. Even her.
MOTHER
There is always someone who needs you.
JUDAS
I do not know what to do, where to go, but he cannot stay
here. I do not know the words to use. So I use his.
(to JESUS)
Come. Follow me.
(aside)
 16.

He knew, Jesus. The whole time. He knew this would be too

much for you to bear alone. He knew you would need someone
here. A friend, at the end of hope. Our ways are not God's
way. Our thoughts are not His thoughts. But in this moment, I
know exactly why I am. And I look up, and I feel it. Awesome
and terrifying. Empty and complete. Is this it? Is this the
grace of God? Yes. This is my story. This was always my
story.
(JUDAS carries JESUS out of The End.)

HELL
(JUDAS carries JESUS. JESUS looks on the brink of
death. JUDAS quietly continues to walk with him. The
two stare at each other for a second. JUDAS brakes the
stare but JESUS continues. The guilt is overwhelming.)
JUDAS
Lord. Before, you spoke of rising from the dead. Can you do
it? Can you escape this place?
JESUS
Only he without sin can defeat death--
JUDAS
Yes, their sin is great, but you--
JESUS
It is not their sins that damns me. But mine.
JUDAS
Yours?
JESUS
Yes. My one sin. Judas Iscariot. Can you forgive me?
LUCIFER
No. Why should he? Judas. I understand why you think you are
doing this. But stop. Let it die. Please. Come with me. We
can end this. We can be free of them forever.
JUDAS
You're right. The story is broken. But I don't believe in the
story. I believe in you.
LUCIFER
I'll kill you.
JUDAS
Jesus! I forgive you.
(LUCIFER grabs onto JESUS. He pulls him away from
JUDAS. LUCIFER tries to take him back to the End.)
 17.

HEAVEN
(JESUS rises, and Hell becomes Heaven.)
JUDAS
I see you, and I know. You have broken the gates of Hell. You
have beaten death. You have overcome the world. And I know
this is goodbye. Where you go, I cannot. But you stop, and
you look at me. And your eyes are the same. The eyes I
followed all those years ago.
JESUS
I will tell her. And she will say, "this is my beloved son.
In whom I am well pleased."
JUDAS
You will rise. The world will be saved. My life will be lost.
I gain nothing. But I chose love. And as time passes. As I
watch the story continue without me. Beyond me. I remember
your words, and I am comforted.
(JUDAS watches JESUS return to Earth.)
END OF 4:4
 18.

EPILOUGE

HELL
(JUDAS walks through Hell. He is much older now.
LUCIFER watches from the distance. The fallen angel is
in a depressive state.)
JUDAS
I am made the villain of history. No man is given my name
again. But as I walk to the very end of the age, you are with
me. Always. And perhaps he is right. He will always be right.
The story may be broken. But so are we. We cannot choose the
stories into which we are written, but we can have faith.
There is more to our story than we know. And no matter who we
are written to be. We can always chose love. And when I do
not know how, when I stumble. When I lose the words. I reach
out. And use yours.
MOTHER
Blessed are those who mourn.
JESUS
For they shall be comforted.
LUCIFER
Blessed are the merciful.
MOTHER
For they shall receive mercy.
JESUS
Blessed are the pure of heart.
JUDAS
For they shall see God.
THE END.