The night that Jesus was arrested, two of His disciples betrayed Him. One, Judas, for a price of 30 pieces of silver, passed on the information about Jesus' nightly whereabouts in the garden of Gethsemane to the Sanhedrin and other religious officials that allowed them to arrest Him at night and illegally try him for crimes of blaspheme and sedition. The other, Peter, three times denied having ever known Jesus to a servant girl around a fire, standing outside of the place of His accusations.
Both of these two men are iconic. They were both close to Jesus, Peter the head of the disciples and Judas the money man. For years, they had been following Jesus, had eaten and heard Jesus speak, had seen tremendous miracles, and had been at the last supper. Tragically, even though these were some of Jesus' closest friends, they both betrayed Him at the time of His greatest need and majesty.
Although they both betrayed Jesus, they handled the consequences, the conscience of their actions, very differently. Following Judas' payment, he realized what he had done: he had betrayed the Son of God and one of his best friends, not to mention, the disciples. When the gravity of his deal with the priests finally hit him, he tried to wash his hands of the matter by returning the silver, but guilt over his betrayal proved too much so he committed suicide (Matt. 27:3-10). Needless to say, Judas is a tragic example of what not to do.
Peter also, in his thrice denial of Jesus, betrayed the Son of God. However, how Peter handled his betrayal is the point at hand. Whereas Judas' shame drove him to commit suicide, Peter ran weeping when he realized that he had betrayed his Lord and friend, Jesus. Peter ran back to the disciples for support and to hide. It could be said that Judas could not have went back to the disciples because of his betrayal but to suppose such is tenuous, however plausible. What is sure is that Peter knew that he needed forgiveness and the strength of his friends in his time of shame.
Additionally, because of Peter's response, he was given the opportunity to address Jesus directly in order to complete his forgiveness. At the end of John's gospel, on the shore of the Galilean Sea, Jesus confronted Peter's betrayal directly (John 21:15-19). In this episode, Jesus questions Peter's love three times, one for each of his denials. In this, Jesus really convicts Peter and presses into him what the Lord requires of him.
Much can be gleaned from these two instances of Jesus' disciples betraying him. First of all and most obvious is the negative example that Judas provides. Instead of desiring repentance and forgiveness for his mistake, Judas wallowed in his shame to such an extant that he hung himself with a cord of his own guilt. On the other hand, Peter's example is a positive one, and relevant for believers still.
Peter shrunk back from his denials and wept bitterly at his betrayal of his friend and Lord. Peter knew, just as Judas knew, that he had done something horrible by denying the Lord. However, Peter did not wallow alone in his betrayal, he went back to the other disciples for support and forgiveness. Because of Peter's faithfulness and obedience after his denial, he was given the divine opportunity to confess his sin and to receive forgiveness. Moreover, Peter was one of the first and greatest leaders of the early Church.
Similarly, we all make mistakes, sometimes even betraying our Lord in unbelief and disobedience. It is not an accident that the Scriptures reveal two different takes on what to do when we stumble in similar ways to Judas and Peter. We should strive to handle the gravity of our sin and disobedience like Peter: with deference, repentance, confession, and faithfulness. Thanks be to God that He would bring us back into His holy presence when we make dramatic and significant mistakes!
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