Left Out

This coming Sunday's reading from Luke's book of the Acts of the Apostles chapter 1 tells us about the Ascension of Christ and the selection of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot as one of The Twelve. The lectionary delicately slips past Luke's account of the death of Judas, omitting it from the reading. 


Luke/Acts tells us that Judas purchased a field with the blood money of his betrayal reward, falling headlong into it and being burst open. Tradition and art seems to prefer the account at Matthew 27:3f in which Judas hangs himself. 








Dante's Inferno has a scene in which the center mouth of satan chews forever the head of Judas Iscariot as his body twists in everlasting agony. 


A quick search turned up no artistic depictions of Luke's gruesome scene that the lectionary for Sunday also prefers to skip over.


Probably just as well.
TW+