You are still at it...making weak inferences based on a poor reading of the text. Your musings about Judas and why he would become “disillusioned” and betray Him when he at first loved Him, is a poor reading of the story of Christ. Judas’s “love” was self-serving (as is the love of us all most of the time, if we are honest). His betrayal of Christ is what each and every person has done throughout the ages (”There is none that are righteous, No, not one. There is none that seek after Him.”) Despite having spent time with the Lord, he knew Him not AS Lord, but was thinking more along the lines of...well, of yourself—thinking Christ was there to set up an earthly kingdom right then and there. This was what all His disciples were thinking, hoping expecting (as were all the Jews of Christ’s day—and some of the FR posters of today!). But this was not God’s plan. How could it be! How could He hope to set up a righteous kingdom with such an unrighteous people? How could a holy God set up a kingdom filled with unholiness? He couldn’t. He must first solve the problem of a fallen creation, filled with fallen, sinful men and women. He must figure out a way to make the unrighteous righteous. He did that in His Son. Christ came to impute the righteousness of God to the unrighteous sinner through His death, burial and resurrection. The believer attains a righteous standing before God (not because of himself, but because of Christ). This is the gospel. In Hebrews it says, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” and that’s when He can and will set up His earthly kingdom - with a righteous, holy people. This is the gospel.
At one point you said, “Use what you know: what USUALLY happens when idealistic people follow a charismatic leader? The leader starts out idealistic himself and then gradually, as he becomes more successful and popular, is corrupted by his own success. This is a pattern of human behavior that is so predictable as to be nearly unavoidable. If this story were anyone other than Jesus, you’d see it too...” This is EXACTLY the point (but you don’t see it). This story IS about Christ, and you think of Him as only an ordinary person. So, He is capable of only ordinary human behavior. But, He is more than that. Much more.
Someone once said, and it is so true, “All error when it comes to scripture can be traced back to low estimations of Christ.”
EXACTLY!! That is what I have been saying all along. They thought he was there to fulfill Messianic prophecy. Why did they think that?
I have to go out. I'll be back later.