Someone posted a meme in social media about the mark of Christianity being the ability to love Judas as well as Jesus. I actually have considered that before.
If satan had to ask to sift Peter, then he would have also had to ask permission of the sovereign God to sift Judas, as well, it seems. Peter endured the pain of his shame and lived to see himself restored when he encountered the Risen Christ and repented in godly sorrow. Peter, however, had been told in advance he would be sifted and WHEN he returned, he was to encourage others. Peter, however, also had something to go back to ..fishing. Judas appeared to have expected a different outcome, a political and military victory that would have served his own desires better. He was crushed by his shame when things didn’t work as he expected. He appeared to see no way forward and withdrew to himself, a very vulnerable position in grief, disappointment, and regret. How could Judas have known that the crowd that welcomed Jesus so jubilantly on Sunday would turn on him and demand Barrabas, allowing Jesus, an innocent man, to be condemned to death on Friday? Judas did not learn the lessons of Jonah’s cry for rescue or Lazarus coming out of the grave. He did not apparently cry out to God and did not wait to see the victory of Christ. He had not been given the same individual word of hope Peter received. But he had been given the same promises and had heard the same lessons from the Law and Prophets and parables as all the others. Judas listened to and felt the full force of the condemnation of the enemy after Jesus’ death and felt such personal remorse and defeat for what he had seen as the bigger cause of rescuing the Jews from Rome, and became a scorned vessel of dishonor, in contrast to Peter who surrendered the pain of his betrayal and shame to the loving atonement of Christ. I do feel love for the pitiable Judas who leaned on his own understanding, and probably also on the lies of the religious leaders, and gave into his own greed and nationalistic desires. . He somehow seemed to think he could force Jesus into a messianic role the zealous Jews expected and wanted, that Jesus would throw off Rome’s oppression. Judas likely thought he’d be a hero, having been given permission by Jesus to move forward. He did what he thought would serve everybody’s best interest (except perhaps the Romans!). He trusted his own wisdom more than he trusted God…. that being the fingerprint of satan opportunistically using him all over the situation. Such is the foolhardiness of thinking any of us know better than God what is best for all. Even though Jesus sent Judas to do “what you must do”, from there Jesus and the others went to Gethsemane. “As Jesus prayed consecutively 3 times, he began to tremble because of the pain. An angel came to strengthen him. He suffered so much that he sweat drops of blood. He was suffering for all of our sins even then so that we can be forgiven if we repent.
Luke 22:41–44; He prayed for the cup of sorrow to pass, but was obedient to the Father. Even then Jesus hoped God might spare him, but he was prepared, if death was God’s will.
We have to choose to embrace grace or guilt. No doubt Jesus would have forgiven Judas but he got bound in his guilt, wrote one friend.
I absolutely agree with her.. If he’d trusted Jesus he’d have seen the glory of God. Instead, he isolated from the fellowship of others and allowed the condemning guilt of the enemy to overcome him.
I learned many years ago in my journey that guilt was unproductive as a Christian. Let the convicting work of the Spirit draw me back to the Lord in confession, repentance, and restored fellowship…. that’s where I choose to live. Sensitive to His correction and humbly accepting it any time I get out of line……
Another friend asked, “And being that Judas was one of the 12 don’t we have to assume he was a follower of Christ and how could satan enter him in the first place? In Luke 22:3 where it says satan entered Judas, I wonder if Judas would’ve done it on his own and was satan still in him when he decided to kill himself? Did he still have freewill if he was being controlled by satan?”
The disciples were still learners and followers….. they did not yet have the Holy Spirit abiding in them. They were entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit in Christ’s with them before his resurrection.
Another observation… Jesus knew when satan was in Peter’s attempts to dismiss what Jesus knew would happen. But I think Peter’s denial after Jesus’ arrest was not so much out of satan’s explicit presence in Peter at the time of the arrest but out of Peter’s own fear after Jesus’ arrest, his confusion over being restrained from defending Jesus, and his efforts to get close to see what was happening. Jesus also knew that satan was in Judas’ actions and I’ve wondered if Jesus wasn’t out and out telling satan to “do what you must…” when he said that to Judas, knowing that God was going to allow Jesus’ betrayal by one in his circle. Could Judas have made another choice? I think so, but his weakness for money and his zealotry against Rome overcame his ability to say no to the tempting circumstances….. the perfect temptation-filled opportunistic storm for satan. And when Judas saw how he’d been used by satan AND that Jesus KNEW all along, he was too ashamed and guilty to seek forgiveness. He didn’t trust Jesus love, grace, and forgiveness …even after Jesus’ own words from the cross:
“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Judas allowed himself to be the Jews’ and the devil’s scapegoat in the betrayal by simply giving in to his own strong desires.
Did Judas betray Jesus or did he yield to believing the lie of satan that Jesus had betrayed the Jews???? Was his nationalism and ethno-centric bigotry and hatred of Israel’s oppressors more important to him than the bigger vision of redemption for all humanity that Jesus had taught and would and accomplish? Who and what did Judas trust? A question in our own day, as well.
I think the decision by Judas to kill himself was his own…. out of the magnitude of his realization at how he’d been used by satan and his own desires against Jesus.
I think this points out a big difference between the personal relationship of Peter with Jesus—which was intimate, trusting, and marked by godly grief —–compared to a relatively less intimate and less personal relationship that Judas had that was colored by Judas’ own benefit of holding the money bag and looking for a way to use Jesus to serve his own zealous desires. I think it’s instructive for who is at greater risk of despair when facing unexpected failures or discipline. People-users and “God-users” like Judas will not fare well in the long run.
A friend agreed,”Me, too, I just don’t think Judas would’ve done any of it all on his own. How many times have others been allowed to be used as pawns in satans schemes? I guess it’s the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that becomes the real game changer for us.”
“……and small tests of obedience in small temptations that build the Spirit’s power within to combat the big ones!” I replied.
We are probably used more often than we realize….. but if we truly love the Lord and are repentant when we fail him, knowing that the Spirit is with us to help us rise from the failure, that we can grow and do better, then we can know that the price for our sin has been already paid and forgiveness is ours for the asking.
How things gain clarity as we are open to God’s reasoning instead of just trusting our own….. even Judas was not predestined to failure of character and hell. He made choices that locked him in to results he most likely didn’t intend and that he couldn’t have anticipated, given his blind spots, but furthermore, he didn’t know or trust God enough to wait for the inevitable opportunity to face Jesus, repent and ask for forgiveness…..that was just a mere day and a half away….
Did God know the choices Judas would make? Being timeless and acquainted with the deepest heart of Judas’ character, he did. But that does not mean that God required it or ordained it. But God allowed the foibles and blind spots of satan and Judas to make both of them vessels of dishonor in the eyes of men forever. Where Judas could have chosen to trust and be restored, satan does not have that same privilege. Satan is doomed to be the defeated liar and conniver as long as God allows him to be exiled to earth, his own special kind of hell, where he can ultimately never win. He can only test God’s creative power to redeem and claim those unwilling to trust God’s grace and mercy and who do not seek salvation in Jesus Christ.
The exception to the previously reference to the absence of the Spirit in them was Jesus’ realization that the Father had permitted His Spirit to reveal the truth of Christ’s identity to Peter in Caesarea. That was a signal to Jesus that the Father had determined that they were capable of having their eyes, ears, hearts, and minds opened by the Spirit of truth without Jesus’ direct transference of and participation in it.
This was a huge advance in the disciples’ readiness to be trusted with the ministry of Christ going forward! And signaled a new age of the Holy Spirit coming to dwell with and IN mankind permanently, not just going about to and fro looking for individuals with righteousness and humility enough to justify them, to be able to bless them and with whom God might walk. It was a signal of the readiness and ability of mankind to mature into the likeness of Christ! Where the Holy Spirit could abide!! And this was the point at which Jesus then took Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration and allowed them to see the Glory of God revealed in him, as well as the heavenly presences of Elijah and Moses with him…. That was an unprecedented revelation, more than even the miracles, the wisdom, and the personal charisma of Jesus! It’s hard to imagine how these three, at least, after witnessing the miraculous resuscitation of Lazarus and the transfiguration of Christ not being ready for something more than only what they saw and understood on Friday in Jerusalem….