Jeremy L. Berg

“He was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver. Then he went away and hanged himself.” Matthew 27

With historical imagination and pastoral sensitivity, my new short story I will be reading Sunday night at 5pm probes the background clues and inner turmoil of one of history’s most tragic figures: Judas Iscariot. What drew him to Jesus in the first place? What led to his infamous betrayal? Most importantly, does his death by suicide place him outside of God’s grace or more directly in his embrace? 

If you are in the area I would love to share this story with you. Recent suicides in our community and family have left me longing to bring a pastoral word of grace into this raw and sensitive topic. As we move ever closer to the events of the cross and Jesus’ passion, Judas Iscariot has been on my mind a lot. I couldn’t shake him from my thoughts. I had to tell his story, but was terrified to enter his darkness.

Then a simple phrase came to me a few weeks back, the kernel of a story to get at the spiritual questions around God’s grace and human despair when someone takes their life. That phrase is “Love Cut the Rope.” You’ll have to come hear or read the story when it’s released to know what it means.

As I wrote this story this week, it was like no writing experience I have ever had. The various threads came together so beautifully, so quickly, so naturally — and with some fascinating little historical details — that I can only say I had extra Help…if you know what I mean.

Here’s a short teaser:

“I was born on the Feast of the Passover, umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. My eyes wide open and my blue face gasping for breath, I tried to cry out but couldn’t. My Abba pulled out his favorite knife, cut the cord and gave me life. Eight days later Abba would pull out that knife again, presenting me to the God of our Fathers in the rite of circumcision. The first cut of that knife gave me life. The second cut gave me a people and a story and a God.“

Come hear the rest Sunday at 5pm at St. Martin’s By the Lake in Minnetonka Beach.