It is interesting to compare the experiences of Judas and Peter. Peter went on to become a great man of God, but Judas committed suicide. And yet they both betrayed Jesus. Why was one restored and the other not? Judas could have been forgiven if he had repented, but Judas was committed to a way of doing things which excluded grace. He was a zealot who wanted a Messiah who would come to judge evil people. He probably assumed that Jesus was going to destroy the Romans and establish a Jewish kingdom. He would then have hoped to benefit from this. It is no wonder then that he abandoned Jesus when things seemed not to be going this way! Perhaps Judas even thought that if he betrayed Jesus to the Jewish leaders he could force a confrontation that would compel Jesus to assert his authority. But when Jesus submitted to his accusers and did not defend himself Judas had nowhere to go. He had betrayed innocent blood, and for a Jewish zealot that was a serious load of guilt to carry. There was no grace or forgiveness in Judas’ belief system. Jesus tried to show him the way of grace, but he would not see it. Judas wanted a God of judgement who would destroy evildoers, and so, when he became the evildoer, that left him no hope. Peter betrayed Jesus but he was able to be restored because, unlike Judas, he seems to have been able to grasp the notion of grace. If you stand for judgement and vengeance then you have nowhere to go when you become the guilty one.
Are you standing for grace in all your relationships?
Read Matthew 26:69–27:10
