Last night I was reading the set portion of Matthew 9 and 10, although I got carried away and read a bit further than the suggestion of the notes.  One of the things that struck me is just how often the lists of the twelve disciples are read out of the context in which they are set.  So it is/was with Matthew 9/10.

Matthew 10: 1 - 8 NRSV

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.

So, it is quite clear that Judas was one of those who went out on the crazy, exciting adventure of preaching the good news, curing sick people, raising dead people, cleansing lepers and casting out demons.  Wow!  All of which makes it the more heart-achingly sad that his story took the turn it did.

Matthew (and for that matter Luke) doesn't  record the twelve being sent out in twos, as does Mark 6:7.  Even so, I found myself wondering how the pairings worked out... were there obvious pairs like Peter and Andrew or did Jesus ignore with natural friendships and choose who would work with who in order to help them grow?  Who did Judas go with?  (Or for that matter Thomas, John, Simon the Zealot, James son of Alphaeus, Nathaniel/Thaddeus...)  What did they encounter?  How did their relationships develop on the way?  How did this experience impact Judas?

A few years ago a minister friend of mine had a crisis of faith and resigned their post.  Among questions they, and others, asked were what did that make of the rites they'd performed... were the (infant) baptisms still valid?  What of the sermons they had preached - were they of God or just clever rhetoric?  I would not set my friend alongside Judas, as though somehow they had betrayed Jesus to death, but just maybe there are some parallels?  What of the person whose cure had its origins in Judas' touch or prayer?  What of the person who found faith from hearing him speak?  Were these valid?  My gut instinct says 'yes'... and I suspect scripture would concord "whoever is not against us is for us."  In those moments, surely, Judas was 'for' not 'against'?

I wonder what you think?