Here we are, we have reached it – that point in the story of Jesus’s life where it feels like everything has stepped up a gear. We’ve been led away from parables and blocks of teaching and are fired headlong into moment by moment accounts of the events that lead Jesus towards his death. In Chapter 26 alone, we’ve had Jesus anointed for burial with perfume, his final meal with his friends, his gut-wrenching prayers to his Father, his arrest at the hands of a mob and his first interrogation before a crowd. After today’s passage, we are taken straight in to Jesus before Pilate and then to the harrowing descriptions of his death and the stillness of his burial.
What we read today, however, gives us a brief pause in the action. Although a couple of sentences tell us that Jesus is being led away, the bulk of the passage is concerned not with the history shifting event about to take place, but rather the experiences of two individuals – Peter and Judas.
These two men were counted amongst Jesus’ closest friends. They had journeyed with him, learnt from him, shared the highs and lows of ministry with him and yet here, we see that they have left him. Throwing him in the way of his enemies and pretending that he was no friend of theirs at all.
‘The man that I kiss, that’s the one you want to arrest!’ ‘A friend of Jesus? No, that’s not me. Have never met the guy!’ What insult. What betrayal. What sin.
The strange thing, is that Jesus knew this was going to happen. He predicted it at the last supper. And yet, he still chose to call them friends. What good news!
Jesus is no more surprised by our betrayal: no more shocked by our sin.
Maybe, like Judas, we are guilty of a specific premeditated act that cannot be undone and has changed everything forever. Perhaps like Peter, we have stumbled towards something we thought we’d never do and have gone ahead and done it anyway. Repeatedly. Maybe our sin is much more subtle than either of those, sitting out of the sight of the people around us. Whatever the specifics of our sin, at its core, it is ultimately the same as that of Peter and Judas – a betrayal of our Lord, of looking into the face of our loving Saviour and saying, ‘No thank you’.
As the Psalmist says:
I know my transgressions,
Psalm 51:3-4 (NIV)
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
And still he calls us friends. What good news!
It doesn’t end there, though, does it? Though Jesus knows us and welcomes us, the question is, when faced with our sin, what do we choose to do?
When Peter realises he has denied his Lord, he weeps bitterly. When Judas realises that his actions have led to Jesus’s condemnation, he is seized with remorse, saying ‘I have betrayed innocent blood.’ Their sorrow and regret are good and right responses to sin. We, like them, are surely to be sorrowful in the face of our sin.
But what they do next is to step away from Jesus. Peter leaves the courtyard, removing himself from his Lord’s gaze. How easy it is to hide from Christ when we know we have betrayed him. And Judas runs towards his sin, a desperate attempt to right his wrong and atone for what he has done by repaying the thirty pieces of silver. How easy it is to try to sort out our sin ourselves.
That is the end of the story for Judas. And what a deeply tragic ending it is. Had Judas seen the risen Lord and run to him, perhaps his story would have ended differently.
But for Peter. What a beautiful restoration. When Jesus rises from the dead, Peter sprints to the tomb and later, when Jesus is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Peter jumps straight into the water. No more hiding away, now it seems impossible to keep Peter back. He is determined to be with Jesus. And what does Jesus say in response? ‘Follow me’.
When we see the nastiness of our sin and feel the pull away from Jesus and towards self-sufficiency, let us, like Peter, choose to sprint towards our Saviour. May we throw ourselves at his feet. Jesus is waiting for us. He will not condemn but longs to welcome us as his friend and to call us to keep on following him.
Let’s pray:
Jesus, thank you that you see our sin in all its ugliness and still you love us. Even when we betray you and turn away from your love, you are always ready to welcome us back. Give us courage to face the depths of our sin and hearts to accept your glorious forgiveness. Thank you for calling each of us friend and help us to live in the light of that beautiful identity.
Amen