Every story needs a villain and Judas Iscariot fills this role in the gospels. He is the apostle who betrays Jesus and helps the Jerusalem authorities arrest him. Judas may have enjoyed a privileged position among Jesus' apostles -- John describes him as the band's treasurer and he is often present at important times. John also describes him as a thief, but it seems implausible that a thief would have joined such a group or that Jesus would have made a thief their treasurer.
Read Article: Judas Iscariot the Apostle: Who Was Judas Iscariot? Why Did Judas Betray Jesus? Should Judas be a Saint?
In reading the NT, I was always puzzled by this question of why Judas needed to “point out” Jesus. Wasn’t Jesus a pretty well known character at that point, especially to the authorities who were, supposedly, eager to seize him as a subversive leader? And he was hanging around Jerusalem in plain sight, even attracting attention to himself by overthrowing money-changers’ tables, etc. Not exactly a secretive Osama bin-Laden type.
As you say, he is presumably needed in the story because he “fulfills a prophecy.” This is clearly one more example of the fictitious character of the NT. Not as juicy as the famous zombie passage, but telling all the same.
I totally agree JonJ!
Another way to look at this is that Judas is suppose to symbolically represent Judaism in this myth/story.
There are many ways to interpret the bible, non of which are meant to be literal or historic. The present Xtian view is absurd in that JC was suppose to die for our sins, so how can Judas be a bad person?
I really believe the early xtians knew this was mythology, but they were killed. The Church today would crucify a real Jesus in order to again invent their own JC, the god-man.