Peter and Judas
Mark 14: 10
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them.
Have you ever wondered about the disciples’ reaction to Judas’ betrayal? Jesus was amazingly nonchalant about it but then, he knew it had to be. I wonder about the Sons of Thunder though. I cannot imagine them taking it well. What about Peter? He was not one to keep his feelings hidden. Remember that he drew his sword when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus. His intention was clear. He meant to fight for Jesus’ freedom. What do you suppose Peter said about Judas?
As I was reading recently that idea captured me. We can be snared by our own judgments of others. Truly, it is hard to live without judging people but that is exactly what Jesus told us to do (Luke 6: 7). Refraining from judging others is how we avoid being judged ourselves, but it must have been very hard for the other eleven disciples to contain their criticism of Judas. I imagine harsh words were spoken.
Jesus said to Peter, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me,” (Luke 22: 4). When that rooster crowed, Peter was grieved down to his bones. He, like Judas, failed Jesus. He must have felt like a traitor himself. Maybe he had been very critical of Judas. We probably wouldn’t be surprised. At the moment of his own betrayal of Jesus, did he cringe at the words he spoke about Judas? Did he regret his words? Did he, for a moment, see into Judas’ delusion?
Look at it the other way. Maybe Peter kept his criticism of Judas to himself. Then, in the moment of his failure, I can imagine that he would have been very happy that he kept his condemnation of Judas to himself.
The grace we extend others is the grace we get to draw upon when we fall flat on our faces, which, we all do. We don’t want to fail Jesus any more than Peter wanted to but in the hour of his trial, he just couldn’t help himself. His fear got the better of him as it could any of us. We don’t condemn Peter because we know we might have failed too. Judas’ is a tragic character who realized the great error in his thinking and his actions. He betrayed the Son of God and that realization destroyed him.
None of us will ever so graphically betray Jesus but we have our own ways of letting him down. When I think of Peter possibly criticizing Judas and then having his denial of Jesus recorded for all the world to read over and over again, it makes me shudder. I know I am no better. I am glad no one is putting the account of my discipleship in the Bible for everyone else to read, but I have to ask myself, “Am I any better a steward of God’s grace than Peter was? How many times have I failed Jesus dramatically?” Sometimes it is really hard to extend grace to people. Let’s be honest, there are some real jerks out there and some of them even call themselves Christians. The question becomes, am I treating them like Jesus treats people or am I judge, jury and executioner?
I hope walking in Peter’s shoes for a few moments will help you think through this difficult subject. I do not mean that you should cease to check people’s fruit. I am not saying you should pretend they are not acting in ways that Jesus does not sanction. I am just saying that we should pray for them A LOT and keep our judgments to ourselves. You don’t have to hang out with them, you definitely do not sanction their bad behaviors. That would be bad. We don’t have to be in denial about their bad acts, but we don’t have to make a sport of them either. Just don’t gossip about them. Don’t criticize them. Keep your mouth from sinning. Don’t put yourself in the position of condemning them because as you judge, you too will be judged. Let them answer for their sins, but keep your mouth from judgment so that you will not be in their shoes later.
