As we enter into the new year, most of us are glad to see an end to 2020. While some people, like several family members of mine, had health challenges in 2019, (three women battled cancer and won), none were expecting what would come the following year. Social media has been flooded with everything from memes of a humorous to spiritually inspirational type saying “good-bye” to last year and welcoming in the new.
Truth be told, however, we don’t know what is in store for us and we must still be cautious as we go forward. With that said, I pray for health and happiness to all my readers and subscribers. If you are new here, I encourage you to subscribe to this page for further encouraging reading. Now let’s get on to what today’s post is actually about.
The Bible tells us the story of two of the most influential men who followed Jesus in the last days of His life. One, Simon Peter, would go on to be one of the most powerful leaders of the new church and was, after all, the man Jesus called “Rock” in Matthew 16:18. However, this very “rock” would crumble as predicted by Jesus, when he would deny that he even knew Christ not once but three times during the final hours of the Savior’s life. Interestingly, we find that just after Peter fulfilled this prophecy, Luke 22:61 reads, “And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” (Italics added by the author). Notice that it does not say that Jesus rebuked Peter. It does not say that he scorned him. It does not say that He was angry. He “looked upon (him)”. Jesus knew that Peter would do this and it appears that He was saddened. Based on Peter’s reaction, he also knew of his guilt as he then ran away and “wept bitterly”.
When we look, however, at Judas, the other character we are examining here, we see another man who sinned against his Lord. His sin, also predicted by Jesus, was also one of denial and betrayal. He would be the one who would actually turn Jesus over to be arrested. It is actually unfair in my opinion that we make Judas the scapegoat for all that went wrong. After all, it must be remembered that Jesus actually came to Earth with two purposes; one was to preach the gospel, which He had been doing, and the other was to die for our sins. His death was not one of murder. It was one of voluntary sacrifice. His Father sent Him and He willingly went. Judas was simply a tool in this. Granted, this does not negate the fact that turning Jesus over to the authorities was a sinful act, it simply explains that it was all part of God’s necessary plan. With that said, let us look at how Judas, in recognizing his sin, acted entirely differently than did Peter.
Remember that both men had been taught and mentored by the same Master and Lord. We don’t know the exact time at which Judas joined the small band of disciples but it is safe to assume that all twelve were assembled at roughly the same time. Therefore, the teaching that they got from Jesus was the same. While we do know that Peter was a fisherman by vocation prior to meeting Jesus, we know little to nothing about Judas. What we do know about their time with Jesus is that Peter would be charged with being the “rock” of the church, a strong leader in the new faith, and Judas was the treasurer or keeper of the money for the small group.
While the Bible makes no attempt to paint a picture of perfection of any of the apostles and even mentions the sins of some, including an argument about who among them should be counted as “the greatest” that we find in Luke 22. Also, we must not forget that when Jesus was taken away, not a one of them was left standing there save John, because they had all fled in fear! However, for our purposes, we will look at the two men above because of the way they reacted when faced with owning their sin.
No doubt, we want to feel anger toward Judas for what he did. He betrayed Jesus! He willingly turned Him over to Ciaphas, the High Priest, to be crucified! Not only that, but he did it for money. In fact, thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave! Although we are told that the devil had entered into Judas, it is my belief that this was not a demonic possession but a temptation and oppression. I say this because had Satan actually take complete hold of Judas, he would not have been able to feel any remorse after he committed the act. However, we see that he did. Unfortunately, guilt and shame are not the same as repentance. Feeling guilty and ashamed for something simply means that a person knows that a wrong has been done. Quite often, the conscience is pricked and even a fear of getting caught or having a reputation tarnished brings shame. This, however, does not mean that a person intends to change. In fact, it may do nothing but make a person want to back-peddle to “undo” something or cover it up. It may bring about a desire to get another chance, but it does not mean that there is true remorse or any sense of repentance. This is what drove Judas to hurry back to the same people who had paid him and try to “undo” what he had done by giving back the dirty money. When they wouldn’t, instead of repenting for what he had done, Matthew 27:5 tells us quite plainly, “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Please note that although the preceding verse does use the word “repented” to describe Judas’ actions, in no way is this implying that Judas repented of his sin. It simply means that he changed his mind about what he had done. Had he truly repented of his sin, he would have realized that the “innocent blood” of which he spoke would cleanse him of this sin and that Jesus would forgive him. He had spent enough time under the Master’s teaching to understand this.
The other figure in our lesson, Peter, had been told outright that he would turn on Jesus and deny Him not once, but three times. Not only that, but it would happen “before the cock crows”, which means before morning. That didn’t give Peter a lot of time to do this. What was interesting but not surprising was that Peter, true to his fashion, begins by denying that this will even happen! That’s right, he challenged the Lord’s accuracy! Again! However, just as predicted, Peter denied Jesus, apparently even within earshot of Christ, Himself. We know this because as mentioned before, Jesus “turned, and looked upon Peter.”
Peter, however, wept bitterly, knowing that he had sinned and we read about him many more times in the Bible doing great things for the Lord. He is restored in service to be one of the most prominent men of the New Testament church. Half of the book of Acts is attributed to the work of Peter and two epistles are written by him.
Romans 3:23 tells us plainly, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Not most or some. All have sinned. It isn’t a contest. This means that you don’t have to compare how bad your sins are or how numerous they are. If you ever think that a sin you have committed is too big for God to forgive, you are making Him a very small god. Either that, or you think that your sins are so “special” that the sacrificial death on the cross of the holy, sinless, and precious blood of the Son of God isn’t enough to forgive you. After all, we also read in the Bible in I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Any sin. Any time. Anyone.