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I saw an interesting show recently that raised the question "is Judas' role during the final hours of Christ misunderstood?"

The arguments go along these lines:
1 - Jesus' name, message, location, favorite speaking place were all well known. What did Judas sell for 30 silver peices? Nobody really needed Judas' help to find and arrest Jesus.

2 - Judas became upset after he found that Jesus would be put to death. He returned the money. He clearly did not feel that this "deal" had gone as planned.

3 - Judas was so upset that he killed himself, even though he knew he was likely damned. Did he do this out of a sense of guilt?

4 - Judas was the treasurer of the apostles, even over Matthew. It would not be unusual for him to recieve money. What was the real intent of the 30 silver pieces?

It does seam obvious that whatever Judas' deal was it did hasten Christ's execution. He also did march with the Romans to Gethsemane, so it would imply that he lead the arrsting solders to Jesus. Why? The Romans could have found Jesus any time of day. Jesus was to be found speaking on the Temple Mound. Why pay Judas anything? They could just go arrest him there. Certainly the Romans didn't care if a few jews were upset by the arrest.