The tldr version of Jesus vs Judas is as follows: Jesus was seen as a potential threat to the stability of the Roman reign over this speck of sand and earth at the eastern end of the Meditteranean. They wanted to arrest Jesus, but not in full publicity, as they feared it could spark an uproar. So they needed a man on the inside, someone in the group close to Jesus that could let them know when it would be safe to get him.

Judas was the insider man. Thursday this week he brought the Roman soldiers to Jesus, and they arrested him. Friday he was nailed to the cross where he died. Three days later he stood up from the dead — this time not as a human being, but as a God himself, as the son of God. A new religion was born.

The betrayal of Jesus got Judas 30 silver coins, and death. He hanged himself. So be warned, you might think the story says, if you betray your closest ones you will not live long.

And you may perhaps not. But for the betrayed, this act is probably one of the most important ones in their life.

This is the real meaning behind the story of Judas: Sometimes you have to betray what matters most to you, in order to unleash the forces that lie within.

While writing this I am thinking of the australian police unit Task Force Argos. For almost a year they shared abuse images of children on the dark net, and wrote messages that can be seen as encouraging others to perform child abuse.

Surely this must be a betrayal against the ones Task Force Argos is made to protect? How can they share abuse images of children and at the same time protect children against online sex abuse?

This questions reminds me of the story of Judas, the real creator of Christianity.

The entire foundation of Christianity lies on the (mythical) fact that Jesus was raised from the dead after being executed. Being killed and then reborn was his life goal: God had sent his(and/or her) son to Earth in order to be sacrificed. Jesus knew this. That is why he was so scared he cried blood the night before he was betrayed.

However, he had a choice. He could have decided not to go through with it. He could have decided to remain a man and not be a god. His godliness was a mere potential of his powers — up until the betrayal from Judas.

The other disciples were blind admirers of who they thought Jesus was. None of them saw what he could become. They never realized the potential, resting in his words. They were victims to confirmation bias — everything Jesus did or said was interepreted into how they wanted Jesus to be.

Only Judas perceived the direction Jesus needed to go, and helped him get there by betraying him. You need to remember this: Those who betray you see what powers lie inside you, much more than the ones who support you where you are now. The betrayer sees your potential, how strong you can become if you only step outside the limits of what is normal.

This is also how you can view the actions of Task Force Argos. They had given themselves a seemingly impossible task: To investigate child abusers on the dark net — a part of the internet which is set up in a way that makes it near impossible to identify the abusers. Most of the ususal methods of investigation fails on the dark net.

That is why they chose to betray the kids. So they could save the kids.

How they came to this decision, I don’t know. But they chose to do something seemingly immoral: They shared abuse images and write messages encouraging abuse.

It was a betrayal against the kids on the pics they shared. It was a betrayal against the entire purpose of the police unit.

But by this betrayal they laid the foundation for something larger. They gave a flying føkk in what was ‘ethical’. They stepped over the boundary of what is normal, of what is the norm. They let themselves be as the abusers — in order to catch the abusers.

They have hardly created a new religion like Judas did, but when you step outside of normality and into the mythical landscape that surrounds normality, everything can happen.

Maybe Paul Griffiths and Jon Rouse knew this was what they were doing. Maybe they did it in desperation, having no other usable methods. But it worked.

When we wrote about the methods in VG, Task Force Argos did not want to tell us how many kids they had identified or rescued. However, this week they gave a number to the newspaper The Australian: A hundred victims have been identified, according to their investigator Paul Griffiths. If all these kids also have been rescued, that is a great achievement.

Every one of us may benefit from taking one more look at the ones we feel have betrayed us. There is a good chance that they have seen more of your potential than what you friends see.

It is the betrayer who helps you reach the next level. Who forces you into doing something you would have avoided, but still knew would be necessary to develop.

The betrayal is one of the most powerful tools we have. It reminds you on your powers, reminds you that you have the ability to change and evolve. Yes, it hurts. You may feel like you are dying. But you are not. You will rise as a mightier version of yourself.

Happy Easter.