For many years I thought that Paul knew about the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. And I had good reason: he seems to refer to him in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” NRSV)
Since Paul indicates that the Last Supper happened on the night Jesus was betrayed, that settles it, right? If so, it would be a relatively big deal, for one thing because otherwise Paul says almost nothing about the events of Jesus’ lifetime. That seems weird to people, but just read all of his letters. Paul never mentions Jesus healing anyone, casting out a demon, doing any other miracle, arguing with Pharisees or other leaders, teaching the multitudes, even speaking a parable, being baptized, being transfigured, going to Jerusalem, being arrested, put on trial, found guilty of blasphemy, appearing before Pontius Pilate on charges of calling himself the King of the Jews, being flogged, etc. etc. etc. It’s a very, very long list of what he doesn’t tell us about. And it’s a very interesting question: WHY?
There are several explanations that I’ve explored on the blog before, but for now I don’t want to go into the question of why, but the question of what.
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