Jesus said to Peter, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And so said all the disciples.
Matthew 26:34-35
Peter and Judas were seemingly polar opposites. Peter was pushy, presumptuous, aggressive, and often flippant with his mouth. "Even if I have to die with You," he arrogantly announced to Jesus, "I will not deny You!" Judas, on the other hand, flew under the radar. He stayed in the background, unlike Peter, never making such bold statements. But both men were arrogant. Both acted selfishly. And both betrayed Jesus. Really, for all their apparent dissimilarities, they only differed in one major aspect: Peter had an authentic, loving relationship with Jesus Christ, and Judas didn't.
Judas had walked with Jesus, had heard Jesus teach, and had witnessed the miracles Jesus had performed. He had seen Jesusfeed people, heal people, raise people from the dead -- and yet the whole time, had probably speculated, "How can I profit from whatJesus is doing?" He had likely wondered to himself, "What's in it for me?" Boy, his eyes must have lit up as he watched the Pharisees, seeing in them his golden opportunity to turn a profit. Surely he could tell that they wanted Jesus dead, so he approached the chief priest with a bribe. "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" he asked (Matthew 26:14). And for thirty pieces of silver, Judas betrayed Jesus to them.
Peter, too, betrayed Jesus; He denied even knowing Him. Not once, or even twice, but three times. Matthew 26:74 says that he became so vehement in his denial that he "began to curse and swear, saying, 'I do not know the Man!'" And immediately, as the rooster crowed, Peter realized his sin, remembering how pompously he had sworn toJesus that he would never deny Him -- the way he had just done.
Both men denied Jesus, but we see their hearts in the way they reacted. Peter, when he realized his sin, "went out and wept bitterly" (Matthew 26:74). Judas, on the other hand, "went out and hanged himself" (Matthew 27:5). Peter reacted with tears of indignity; Judas attempted to salvage his dignity, with the selfish act of suicide. Peter wept over his sin, while Judas ran from his.
You see, if Judas had any relationship with Jesus, it was so shallow and inconsequential that it could be undone by thirty mere pieces of silver. If he loved Jesus, he wouldn't have tried to profit off Him. If he truly knew Jesus, he wouldn't have run from his sin, but would have repented from it. Peter, for all his flaws, not only recognized his sin, but wept over it, and repented from it.
We have all betrayed Jesus. We have all sinned. Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one." But may we be like Peter, who "wept bitterly" over his sin and repented. Today, if you have an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, you don't have to run from your sin -- you are forgiven! If you will repent from your sin, "He is faithful and just to forgive us" (1 John 1:9). Today, may you realize God's unfailing love for you, even as you inevitably fail him. May you know the "width and length and depth and height" of the "love of Christ, which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:18-19).
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