Peter or Judas?

The old saying may be "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." But usually the reality is "When the going gets tough, the tough wimp out." Welcome to fallen human nature. When things get difficult, when adveristy rears its ugly head, I know that my first response is often depair. Just as the apostles fled from Jesus' side in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:56), so I find often find myself succumbing to fear and despair when the going gets tough.

We don't know exactly when it happened, but at some point, the going got so tough for Judas that he decided to hand Jesus over to the his enemies. Even Peter, the rock (Matthew 16:18), who promised Jesus he would die with him (even earlier that same night! (Luke 22:33)), three times vehemently denied knowing Jesus. Yes, when the world seems to be against us, it is hard to focus on the victory of Christ. But thankfully, Christ expects, he even knows that we will fail.

Before both Judas and Peter denied Jesus, he told them explicitly what they were about to do (John 13:21-30, Luke 22:34). So certainly our challenege as Christians is to not deny Christ in the first place, to battle despair at ever turn. But when we do lose (and we will), we must seek forgiveness in humility. It is one thing to despair at the circumstances of the world. It is quite another to despair in thinking Christ cannot forgive even the worst sin. Who sinned more grievously, Peter or Judas? That is a difficult question to answer. But Judas doubted Christ's ability to forgive him, and ended his own life (Matthew 27:5), while Peter accepted Christ's forgiveness (John 21:15-19), and went on to lead the church.

Have any of us sinned as grievously as Judas or Peter? Only when we think that our sins of despair, of wimping out, are too bad for Christ to forgive.