Unlike what her confidence and professionalism would like you to think, Cunningham is completely wrong.
Cunningham’s argument is that forgiveness is solely in God’s hands; it is up to Him to dole out forgiveness, mercy, and justice. If God’s justice is perfect, that would necessitate a system of punishment, but if God is all-loving and all-forgiving, there would be no punishments for people’s sins on Earth. This contradiction, that God is simultaneously perfect in His justice and in His love, is the center of Cunningham’s thesis. Perfect justice and perfect love can’t coexist, so one must be incorrect. According to Cunningham, God must either have a flawed concept of justice in forgiving even the worst offenders, or God must have a flawed concept of love if He will only love you if you never make a mistake. God is either spiteful since His love is conditional, or powerless because His forgiveness hasn’t helped Judas yet.
As the play shows, in Jesus saying that He has always loved Judas and in the act of Jesus washing Judas’s feet, Jesus has already (perhaps even immediately) forgiven Judas for his actions. Jesus has done everything He can to help save Judas, but Judas must now “participate in his own salvation.” His salvation is in his own hands.
Judas must first open himself up to the concept of forgiveness. If he thinks he’s unworthy of forgiveness from anyone, then he will find no meaning or solace in Jesus telling him that He forgives and loves him. Cunningham must also open herself up to forgiveness in order to find God’s love. But since she has been pushing blame for her lot in life onto everyone except herself, she is also waiting on God for an official sign of love and forgiveness, when He has had that for her all along. Cunningham won’t move out of Purgatory until she can “expand her consciousness” as (ironically) Satan suggests.
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