From Apostle To Apostate: The Judas Iscariot Story; Lessons From Sir Yohane’s Leaked Will And Its Aftermath

Judas Iscariot “was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).

Has it ever struck you as odd that Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag?

Of all the disciples, Jesus chose Judas to be treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit. The Bible reveals that donors were financially supporting Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8:3), and yet the one guy who Jesus knew was a “devil” (John 6:70) was made Chief Finance Officer.

I do not want to believe that Jesus Christ, the son of God was ignorant of Judas’s pilfering. So why did he let him manage the money?

It is well-known that Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve disciples.  And, as such, he was one of Jesus’s closest friends.  But, he was also “the treasurer”.  

As in many ministries, businesses or organizations, the treasurer is one of the first positions to be filled.  Nevertheless, the fact I find most interesting is that Judas had been stealing regularly from the treasury and no one knew it except for Jesus (John 12:4-6).

Consider that idea for a moment.  Judas was the treasurer and a thief.   He didn’t just steal.  He was a thief.  Which means he stole on a regular basis from the treasury.  In fact, he’d probably been stealing money for the entire three years of Jesus public ministry.  But, only Jesus knew what was happening. And the Bible never mentioned that Jesus exposed Judas or sought to reprimand him or disgrace him in any way.

Maybe the Lord Jesus Christ put Judas in charge of His money because he wanted to give him an opportunity to overcome the evil in his heart. If not, why would the Lord have put Judas in charge of money, even when He could have chosen Matthew, who we can say by virtue of his position as tax collector, was a finance expert and probably a certified accountant?

Today, except for the label of a traitor, and for the fact that he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, nobody remembers Judas Iscariot. No Churches are named after him. No monuments are erected in his honor, even though he can be said to be one of the pioneers who helped to firmly establish the Ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The story of Judas reminds me so much of that of ‘Sir Yohane’, a late former CEO of Umuofia’s department in charge of bushes. He was also a former chief scribe of the elephant fraternity.

‘Sir Yohane’, though from a humble village, rose by dint of hard work to occupy the enviable position of Chief Scribe of the elephant fraternity. Occupying such a high office as that, ‘Sir Yohane’ never once forgot his roots. He was probably the only high ranking politician in Umuofia who proudly accepted the tag “kookooase kurasenii” and wore it like a badge of honor.

Years after his exit from office as chief scribe of the elephant fraternity, and when his fraternity was given the mandate to govern Umuofia again, ‘Sir Yohane’ was appointed to head Umuofia’s department in charge of bushes.

Now removed from frontline politics, not much was heard from ‘Sir Yohane’ until his unfortunate demise from COVID-19 complications some two years ago.

Sir Yohane’s death united Umuofia’s polarized political fraternities in grief, and rightly so considering that he was a man who related well with all irrespective of political affiliation.

Two years after his unfortunate demise, a family squabble for ownership of his estate landed his last will and testament in public view and unfortunately eroded every last sympathy Umuofians may have felt for the late “Kookooase Kuraseni”, a man who was largely generous to a fault.

Apparently, Sir Yohane had managed while he was head of bushes to acquire parts of some reserved government land and willed same to some of his family members leading to an uproar among Umuofians who are currently witnessing a gargantuan escalation in prices of basic necessities at a time when it has become pretty obvious that the elephant fraternity, despite the initial goodwill that brought them to power, had become an unmitigated disaster, even compared to the erstwhile umbrella fraternity.

Today, despite the good reputation Sir Yohane worked years to build as a generous philanthropist, a father for all, an uncle for the afflicted, and a man of enormous respect for culture and tradition, the only popular refrain now is that he was no different from the others who steal with their pens and titles, and sit in the front pews in Church, claiming all the reverence and accolades.

I now understand why our elders say “a good name is better than riches”.

I mean, look at how Sir Yohane’s family who had been gifted with his years of blood and toil and sweat on a silver platter, and yet could not even agree to claim what their late patriarch himself had bequeathed to them in writing without acrimony, and ending up in court probably out of greed, which ultimately led to leaking the man’s will in public, and bringing his otherwise good name into disrepute.

Just like Judas Iscariot, today, nobody remembers Sir Yohane as the man who took up cases pro-bono in ‘Kegyetia’, nobody remembers him as the man who employed thousands of people from his village in the department of bushes, and nobody remembers him as the man full of humor, and who was so easy to approach despite his high office.

Why are we dying to live if we are just living to die?

Source: Emmanuel Frimpong/Ghanafeed/2022