JUDAS AND PETER
Matthew 26:63ff

Sometimes Trump's administration seems to be unraveling. He's fired a whole bunch of people in the last four months. I wonder if Jesus had that feeling on the way to the cross. He knew one disciple would betray Him and another would deny he ever knew Him. Most of the rest would run and hide, afraid of losing their own skins. Only the “one Jesus loved” and some women, including His mother stood by Him. Can you women tells us men why you seem to have had more guts than the men? Were they standing by Mary, Jesus, both?

Consider Judas. All sorts of reasons have been given for his betrayal. Perhaps he needed the money or was merely greedy? One of the writers said he was the treasurer of the group and stole some of their few funds.

Another group of scholars speculates that Judas was looking for Jesus to lead a military revolt to throw out the Romans and re-establish a Jewish empire as the Maccabees had defeated the Greeks. He is introduced to us as Judas Iscariot, which probably refers to the sicarii, a terrorist band called the “long knives.” Simon the Zealot's name suggests he was a member of another such revolutionary group. Those groups continued to emerge for another 100 years, resulting in the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, and the demolition of all Jerusalem 60 years later after the Bar Kochbah revolt. Then the Romans completely razed the city and repopulated it as a Roman emperial city, even changing its name!

Judas may have hoped to force Jesus's hand. He may have been spurred on by the Palm Sunday greeting when the entire town seemed to take to the streets to welcome Jesus. Surely an arrest would fill the streets again in a mass uprising. (Compare the recent “Arab Spring.” In favor of this, when Jesus was arrested, and there was no uprising, he flung his money back in the face of the conspirators.

>>>Side note for any who may be interested. A few years ago a “Gospel of Judas” made a small sensation (oxymoron?) in the news. The tale in this story made Judas a hero, because Jesus asked him to betray him in order that prophesy might be fulfilled. But NT scholars know there are dozens of “gospels” that the church rejected and we have them. You may have heard of the Gospel of Thomas, which some feel may include genuine sayings of Jesus. A significant number of these false gospels however were produced by the gnostic movement that arose from people trying to combine Christianity with Greek religion. Many of these, plus some others, promote a secret knowledge that Jesus only taught a select few. That inside knowledge was – in their view – what got you into heaven, or at least a higher standing. The Church decided the books that were true and useful – the 27 we have now. Occasionally I see ads claiming to sell you the “Hidden Books of the Bible” Or the “Bible Books the Church Doesn't Want You to See.” Nonsense. You can read most of them free online. Just Google them.

Meanwhile, Peter had followed at a distance and found a place around a fire someone had started. He was troubled and mixed up and hurting and wanted to see what was going to happen. He had slept in Gethsemane, but was very much awake now. As he watched and pondered, people began to notice him and talk behind his back. Finally one came forward to ask. Not sure what Peter looked like, but as the self-appointed leader of the disciples, he may have stood out. And there was apparently some kind of dialect difference...think Yankee vs Southerner. So some in the crowd thought they remembered him hanging around Jesus.

So they asked.
He said no.
They asked again.
He said he did not know the Man.
Convinced, they still asked.
And he swore.
Like the fisherman he was.
And when he looked up,
He saw Jesus staring back!
So he left.
Left and wept.
Wept long, cleansing sobs.
Waiting for the resurrection.
And the fish fry on the beach.
Peter, do you love me...
And we need that resurrection too.
Have we betrayed Him?
Denied Him?
Oh yes.
Judas's story is our story.
And so is Peter's.
We need that cleansing sob.
And resurrection.
.