Throughout this Easter season we spend a lot of time being encouraged to abide in God’s love and to love one another as Christ loved us. This emphasis on love requires that we be in relationship. Sometimes it’s very difficult as humans to love something in which we have no relationship. In fact I believe it’s perhaps even more difficult to love something with which we are not in right relationship. It is at this point where Judas’ relationship with Christ is given some attention. Just before Jesus is arrested, condemned and put to death, Jesus prays for his disciples saying; “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one… I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” Christ words help us to understand the significance of a right relationship with God and one another, something Judas was never able to comprehend. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just be taken out of this world? You know the world with all its pride and prejudice, greed and licentiousness. However, this world by itself is not evil and I have come to realize that just being taken out of the world doesn’t actually solve any problems. In this journey we are confronted with every temptation that is produced in the world, and no one new this better than Jesus. So what does Judas’ part in Jesus ministry really mean for us today?