Here are the words of 'Stand Up For Judas' as Roy Bailey sings them on Rosselson's 'Love Loneliness Laundry' (1976). Dick Gaughan changed a few words in his recording, but the only significant change is that at the end of verse 3 he changes the 'chains of misery' to 'chains of tyranny'.

STAND UP FOR JUDAS
(Leon Rosselson)

Chorus:
So stand up, stand up for Judas and the cause that Judas served
It was Jesus who betrayed the poor with his word

The Romans were the masters when Jesus walked the land
In Judea and in Galilee they ruled with an iron hand
And the poor were sick with hunger and the rich were clothed in splendour
And the rebels whipped and crucified hung rotting as a warning
And Jesus knew the answer
Said, Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, said, Love your enemies
But Judas was a Zealot and he wanted to be free
Resist, he said, The Romans' tyranny

Jesus was a conjuror, miracles were his game
And he fed the hungry thousands and they glorified his name
He cured the lame and the lepers, he calmed the wind and the weather
And the wretched flocked to touch him so their troubles would be taken
And Jesus knew the answer
All you who labour, all you who suffer only believe in me
But Judas sought a world where no one starved or begged for bread
The poor are always with us, Jesus said

Now Jesus brought division where none had been before
Not the slaves against their masters but the poor against the poor
Set son to rise up against father, and brother to fight against brother
For he that is not with me is against me, was his teaching
Said Jesus, I am the answer
You unbelievers shall burn forever, shall die in your sins
Not sheep and goats, said Judas, But together we may dare
Shake off the chains of misery we share

Jesus stood upon the mountain with a distance in his eyes
I am the way, the life, he cried, The light that never dies
So renounce all earthly treasures and pray to your heavenly father
And he pacified the hopeless with the hope of life eternal
Said Jesus, I am the answer
And you who hunger only remember your reward's in Heaven
So Jesus preached the other world but Judas wanted this
And he betrayed his master with a kiss

By sword and gun and crucifix Christ's gospel has been spread
And 2.000 cruel years have shown the way that Jesus led
The heretics burned and tortured, and the butchering, bloody crusaders
The bombs and rockets sanctified that rain down death from heaven
They followed Jesus, they knew the answer
All non-believers must be believers or else be broken
So put no trust in Saviours, Judas said, For everyone
Must be to his or her own self - a sun

[1983:] The only way to accept or reject any ideology is to subject it to critical scrutiny. I feel this side of the Christian tradition deserves examination, as it is the unquestioned assumption that Christianity is a "good" philosophy and it is only its malpractice which is "bad". (Notes Dick Gaughan, 'A Different Kind of Love Song')

[1997:] In the Christian world, the name of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus for the paltry sum of 30 pieces of silver, has become synonymous with unmitigated evil. The kiss, by which he betrayed his master to the arresting troops, has become an archetypal symbol of treachery. His deed has become an emblem of sin itself, showing the perversity of human beings who can stand in the divine presence, yet deliberately reject it. [...]
Some scholars have recently concluded that the Judas story fits uneasily into the narrative and may have been inserted later. His act of treachery seems so arbitrary. Mark, whose gospel is usually regarded as the earliest and whose account of Judas is very sketchy, gives us no motive for Judas's betrayal. It is only some 10 years later, when Matthew is writing and the story has had more time to develop, that the 30 pieces of silver are mentioned and Judas's treachery is attributed to greed.
And why was a betrayal necessary? Jesus had become a well-known figure in Jerusalem and it is hard to believe that the arrest depended solely upon Judas's identification. Further, scholars have long noted that the Greek verb 'paradidomi', which is used in the Gospels to describe Judas's act, simply means 'to hand over' - not, as it is usually translated, 'to betray'. Judas need not have been acting against Jesus's wishes: the Gospels tell us that Jesus insisted that his death was preordained and tells Judas to go ahead.
But this raises a theological difficulty. Why, it has been asked, did Jesus choose Judas as a disciple, knowing that he would prove treacherous? [...] Jesus shows that there will be no mercy for Judas: 'The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for the man by whom the Son of Man is handed over. Better for that man if he had never been born!' (Mark 14:21).
It is not surprising, therefore, that some have felt sympathetic towards Judas. [...] it is certainly true that the Gospel portrait of Judas has helped to shape the chronic anti-semitism of Christianity. [...] On Good Friday, after hearing the Gospel story of Jesus's betrayal and death, Christians would rush from the churches to take vengeance on the Jews. And the inspiration for these Easter pogroms was the figure of Judas. (Karen Armstrong, Observer, 30 March)

The day after, on 31 March 1997, the German magazine Der Spiegel printed an article in which the theologian Hans-Josef Klauck argued, even more radically, that most of Judas' supposed conduct had been inserted into the Gospel from earlier sources in an attempt to explain why Jesus failed (according to human standards) and to direct all blame away from the Romans and towards the Jews. Klauck thinks Judas may have played some kind of 'infamous' role in the events but never the iniquitous one with which he has been burdened. I can't quite remember now but I think both articles were inspired by the same publication(s). - Susanne

^^