It is not accidental that the stories of Judas and Peter are interwoven during the trial of Jesus. In reading the stories, it is hard to calculate which of these men committed the more grievous crime. Judas handed Christ over to the authorities; however, Peter, with oaths and swearing, denied Christ three times. In the contest of ‘Whose Sin Is Uglier?’ the scales are pretty well balanced. Both men were guilty of capital offenses.
Yet, what is most startling as we set these men beside each other is not where each man begins, but where he ends. Peter found mercy and was restored as a friend of Jesus. Judas wrapped a noose of shame around his neck and broke his body on the rocks of despair.
Sin would like nothing more than for us to swallow the lie of Judas, to think that we are too far down the path of iniquity to about-face and come home. All Christians need to resist this lie like we should resist a capsule of cyanide. Before despair conceives in the mind, we need to ask the following questions: When did Jesus ever turn away a broken heart? What leper did He refuse to heal because of his defilement? Is there a single instance in the Bible of someone asking for grace and being rejected? These questions should lead us to one incontestable conclusion: If there was mercy for a dying thief on the cross, if there was forgiveness for an adulterous disciple like Peter, if a scoundrel like Paul could be lifted to the office of an apostle, then there is hope for me. I, too, can be forgiven if I relinquish my pride – and my despair – and run to the feet of Jesus.