By the end of the video, Lady Gaga is depicting the crowd executing her (in the Biblical sense, by stoning) for the messages she's delivered - because she knew they would! And I, for one, am proud of her for calling them out on it like that.
In the video Lady Gaga presents herself as a woman (you could call her Mary Magdalene, but I wouldn't) whose devotion is incomplete - she loves Jesus and is clearly committed to him, but she can't turn her back on Judas. She loves him, too.
Now, Judas is the man who betrayed Jesus into the hands of his enemies for that dastardly evil, money. The result was that Jesus was killed. So... loving Judas? I can hear the literal thinkers saying that you can't love Judas if you love Jesus, maybe even that you must hate Judas if you love Jesus. He (indirectly) killed Jesus, after all.
The question of who we can blame for Jesus' death pops up fairly often, in various ways. The Jews is a popular answer. Judas is a good alternative for the less racist.
Either of those answers works effectively if your goal is to anchor that story firmly in history and people it with faceless characters as a means of denying any personal connection to it. But if that's your goal, then Lady Gaga is a braver Christian than you.
Now, some verses in Luke and John say that Satan "entered into Judas." So you can think of Judas like a muggle under Voldemort's imperious curse if you really want to. Or you can think of Judas as an ordinary man with ordinary temptations. Doubt. Jealousy. Greed. Simple lack of faith. Even fear. Who knows? But it's a scary thought. It means that Judas was just like you. And that means that you could have betrayed Jesus, too.
Well, I think that's how we are supposed to read the story. We are supposed to wonder, what tempts me to betray Christ? because the potential exists inside each of us, and each of us have betrayed Christ in our own ways. We should all be bold enough to say, "I'm in love with Judas," because we are Judas, and so is everyone we love.
I said Lady Gaga was a brave Christian, and she is. With the Judas video she premiered to the whole world a movie depicting her struggle between choosing good and choosing evil in the most explicit symbols, as a lover torn between Jesus and his betrayer.
In the video, Lady Gaga smears her lipstick across Judas' face (via a golden lipstick gun, not via snogging) and her lipstick is visible on his face when when he kisses Jesus' cheek. That's a powerful image that figuratively merges Lady Gaga into Jesus' betrayal, and it bravely (and honestly) says, "I share in Judas' guilt."
Lady Gaga sums up the experience of Christian faith with sparkling clarity in these lines:
I wanna love you, but something's pulling me away from you. Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to.
No human being is without "demons." The cowardly Christian says, "Yeah, well, I'm saved, so point that finger at somebody else." The brave Christian admits their demons and faces them. I am really inspired by the Judas video - it shows us the struggle we should all be seeing in ourselves. The struggle is there - the only variable is whether or not you will face it head on.
There are a lot of literal thinkers out there, and it's no duh that literal thinkers don't like Lady Gaga. They never will, and I'm tired of them acting like we don't know it already. But they should think carefully before they throw the first stone (Remember? Lady Gaga gets stoned at the end of the video). Just because you haven't seen the value in something doesn't mean it isn't there. And just because you haven't seen the Judas in your heart... well, it is there.
Don't take my word for it - other believers are defending Judas, too. Here's one, a fascinating article from the Washington Post blogs.
Jillian - you are so cool! The world is lucky that you were an English major.
ReplyDeleteSo I love the way you have analysised this video and the song. Just to throw another thought into the pot, she mentions the story of Paul denying Jesus 3 times. Paul runs away from guilt which one could presssume is the same guilt that Judas felt. The difference in how the two deal with it, Judus kills himself and Paul goes on to be the founder of the church. I think that it take a brave christian to see the true value of Judas and that he is part of all of us. While the way most of us view Judas has been informed by the writers of the bible (the winners always right history).
ReplyDeleteJudas has been potrayed as evil and bad whereas Paul as been up lifted as the pure hearted but flawed follower of Jesus. After Judas realized what he did he tried to deal with it the best way he could to give the money back and try and prevent the couse of action that was full speed ahead. Paul did not, he was resigned to the fact that Jesus was going to die and there was nothing that he could do.
As a non-practicing Catholic there are times where I cringe at Gaga's use of Catholic imagery but I understand and am deeply greatful for her message. There are many reasons one leaves religion and chooses something esle. She is giving people who have left or never been in a way to understand or view the ideas that are at the foundation of Christianity and the religion.
That's my 2 cents. Jillian thanks for putting this view out there .