Though Peter and Judas’ nights started similarly, they ended completely differently.
On the night of the Passover feast, Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. After Jesus was arrested, Judas had a change of heart and Matthew 27:3 tells us that he was “seized with remorse”. On that same night, Peter saw Jesus arrested and, though he had said that he would die for Jesus (Matthew 26:35), he denied knowing him three separate times (Matthew 26:69-74). When he realized his failure, he went outside and wept bitterly (verse 75).
Judas and Peter were the same in that they both failed and felt remorse for their actions. The difference comes in how they reacted to their failure. Judas, tragically, went away and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5). Peter, on the other hand, continued to spend time with the other followers of Jesus. Therefore, he was among the first people to hear about and see the empty tomb on resurrection Sunday (Luke 24:12). He was in the room when Jesus appeared to them that evening (John 20:19-23). Jesus encouraged him (John 21), and Peter went on to preach the first gospel sermon (Acts 2), become one of the early leaders in the church, and write two books of the New Testament.
Why did Judas’ and Peter’s lives turn out so differently? Certainly, the answer has nothing to do with performance. Both failed miserably and wished that they could undo what they had done. The answer must lie in the fact that one saw hope and the other did not. Peter held on to whatever little belief he still had, while Judas assumed there was nothing to see but his failure.
Peter’s story is not about how a great man recovered from failure. Peter’s story is about how God graciously gave him a chance to start over. Had he been able to find that same hope, maybe Judas’ story would have ended differently too.
As Charles Spurgeon said, “God saves the ungodly, not because they are good, but because he is good”. That is good news for all of us!
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Comments