>> judas!ow understands that he is part of a sacred mission. >> jesus wanted to be sacrificed. he asks judas to betray him. and judas says, "why me?" jesus tells him, "because you're the closest to me. i beg you to do it." >> he understands what's happening. he's helping jesus. he knows that because of what he has to do, he's going to be hated forever. >> judas is doing what jesus wants him to do. look, god sent jesus to die for the sins of mankind. someone has to betray him. someone has to fulfill this mission. jesus is saying, i have to die on the cross in order to do what i was sent here to do. >> judas was not the evil figure, this nasty traitor that we've often depicted him as in the history of christianity. >> judas, the quintessential traitor, is actually the hero? this is hugely shocking. it's stunning. >> the gospel of judas totally changes the relationship between jesus and judas. now judas is not a traitor but a trusted ally chosen by jesus to help him fulfill god's divine plan. then

judas is not really about the figure of judas.ones being criticized by the author. >> the real shock reveal of the gospel of judas is that none of the disciples are good. that probably should have been the headline. none of the disciples are that great. >> the gospel of judas is a damning portrayal not just of judas but of all the disciples at the last supper. >> what's surprising is that the gospel of judas actually depicts the disciples as misguided idiots, people who don't have access to the truth. really jesus treats them as a lost cause. >> in the gospel of judas, the other disciples are praying and venerating in ways that make jesus laughs at them. >> why are you laughing at the thanksgiving? >> and they seem to be leading people astray. >> it is what is right. >> i am not laughing at you! >> nor are you doing this by your will but rather it is by this that your god will be praised. >> the gospel of judas pictures the disciples as clueless. >> this image of the disciples and of judas is the key to unlocking the true meaning

on the night that judas will betray him, jesus invites his disciples to share a last supper. >> jesus because he can't let the authorities know where he's going to be because it's very important that he finish his last teaching and his last supper before he is seized and arrested violently. >> mary magdalene, mary the mother of jesus, they're not there at the last supper, but the reason they're not there is because jesus knows that he's about to be betrayed. this arresting, this seizing could be very violent, it could be very dangerous. >> following his betrayal by judas, jesus is arrested, tried and sentenced by pontius pilate to be scourged and crucified. >> the men had fled because the men could have been arrested with jesus for insurrection as he was. they could have been crucified as well. >> jesus called the disciples to follow him. and the one thing that they have failed to do, many of the disciples, is to follow jesus at the most crucial moment of all, which is to the cross. but mary has understood this and she's followed him to the cross. she succeeded where many of the male

a certain man named judas led a rebellion against both rome and the sons of herod the great.nto the city of sepphoris, breaking into the armory, stealing all the weapons and arming his men. >> judas the galilean was a famous rebel against rome who insisted that the empire had no proper right to be ruling israel. >> we know about judas' revolt from josephus. >> come on! >> who writes about it in his historical documents. >> come on! >> here was a native jew who could be king over judea, a new messiah that many jews wanted to support. >> today, we cannot imagine someone going up against a force such as the roman empire in that way, but in judas' time, the romans have not been in israel very long relatively speaking. >> for a while, it may have looked like the rebellion would have been successful, but then the romans sent 15,000 troops down from syria into sepphoris to flatten the city and squash the rebellion. >> i think it would be terrifying to face the roman army. you would know that they were there to utterly destroy you. >> judas was hopelessly outclassed, in military term

as well as james, there's joses, judas and simon alongside at least two unnamed sisters. exactly whose these offspring these other children are is still the subject of debate. >> for catholics, there is that emphasis on mary's virginity. she was not only a virgin at the time of jesus's conception and birth but also afterwards. that's why i like to think of james, the brother of jesus, as probably a child from joseph's prior marriage before he married mary. >> but not all christians are in agreement. >> protestants would say there are other children that are the biological kids of mary and joseph, in which case, jesus would be the older brother. and perhaps other siblings of jesus would have looked up to him. >> matthew 1-25 says, literally, joseph was not knowing her in the carnal sense until she gave birth to jesus. now any normal reading of that sentence implies she went on to have more children after that, and his brothers and sisters are in fact his brothers and sisters. >> the bible tells us very little about the early life of jesus. >> the gospels really fast forwar

. >> jesus is betrayed by judas.disciple helps us understand a crucial piece of the passion narrative. why is the beloved disciple the only male disciple standing at the foot of the cross when all the others have fled? perhaps it's because the beloved disciple understands that the cross is not the end. the beloved disciple has already experienced resurrection. >> we're told that mary, the mother of jesus, and the beloved disciple are there together. and jesus bequeaths his own mother as a sort of last will and testament to the beloved disciple and we are told he took her into his own home. >> i think it's wrong to find value in a story only if we can trace it back to something historical. this story in particular does really important work because it tells about something really profound about love for one's friend, about the willingness to lay down your life for your friend's life. about hope in the face of despair and the transcendence of death. >> in oxford, england george cazan and tom hiam are about to put the e

>> maybe we can't rehabilitate judas, but at least we can have some empathy for him. >>> mary magdalene. the woman tradition calls a sinner but who becomes the most devoted follower of jesus. >> i see mary magdalene as one of the most compelling figures in the entire gospel. >> a witness to the crucifixion and the resurrection, she is one of the most misunderstood women in the bible. >> she was the first christian. >> known as a penitent prostitute, was she, in fact, the wife of jesus? >> there's an air of scandal about this. >> the bible tells us little about mary. is it possible that everything we've assumed about her is wrong, and could lost gospels help fill in the missing parts of her story and tell us who really was mary magdalene? >>> for many christians today, mary magdalene is revered for her compassionate love for jesus. >> i think jesus meant everything to mary. >> she was present at the crucifixion and, most importantly, she was present at the resurrection. she's the first person to whom jesus appears after his resurrection. >> do not weep nor grieve nor be irresolute. for h

to life, so i think it's less an act of showing his power and more an act of showing his love. >>> judas who betrays jesus in the most infamous act of treachery ever. >> judas is the embodiment of all wickedness, the most villainous person in human history. >> evil, demonic, the lowest of the low. >> now new evidence rewrites the story of jesus and judas: a lost book of secret knowledge

when we try to paint judas as if he's only evil, we don't see in him what jesus saw. >> and if we see him as a monster, i think we lose the sense of humanity. >> maybe we can't rehabilitate judas, but at least we can have some empathy for him. >> an ancient barrel ground inskriped with the name james, son of joseph, brother of jesus. a box that might actually be a connection to jesus christ himself. but who was his brother, james? >> the gospels are very clear that jesus had siblings. >> from doubter. >> can you imagine if your brother said i'm the son of god? >> to leader. >> james ran the whole show in jerusalem. >> but why has james but lost to history. >> james really is the forgotten man. >> embroiled in one of the longest forgery trials ever, could this box be the first physical evidence of jesus and his secret brother, james? ♪ >> fall, 2002. the royal ontario museum in toronto, canada, opens its doors to what may be the most significant discovery ever in biblical archaeology. a limestone burial box known as an aush ware, scientifically dated to the time of christ. on its side,

. >>> judas iscariot, the man who betrays jesus in the most infamous act of treachery ever. >> judasss. >> the most villainous person in human history. >> evil, demonic, the lowest of the low. >> now, new evidence rewrites the story of jesus and judas. a lost book of secret knowledge, condemned as heresy 1800 years ago. >> it's just horrific.

. >>> judas iscariot, the man who betrays jesus in the most infamous act of treachery ever. >> judasecret knowledge, condemned as heresy 1800 years ago. >> it's just horrific.

act of treachery ever. >> judas is the embodiment of all wickedness. >> the most villainous person in of the low. >> now, new evidence rewrites the story of jesus and judas.