“This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
Matthew 26:31 (quoting Zechariah 13:7)
How would you like your worst mistake to be known to countless millions of people for centuries to come? I imagine King David can tell you what that feels like. Unfortunately, Judas won’t be able to tell you, but Peter will. Today, we are going to look at the epic failures of these two disciples after the Last Supper.
Judas’ failure was not only instigated, but premeditated. Matthew and Luke record that Judas went to the chief priests and elders. They gave him 30 pieces of silver in exchange for turning Jesus over to them. To put this amount in perspective, this was the price for a slave in the Old Testament. That is apparently what Jesus was worth to Judas. And then Judas looked for an opportunity to get Jesus arrested.
Most people think Judas only “turned bad” around the Last Supper. However, it was Judas who was upset when Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha (John 11:1), poured expensive perfume on Jesus just a week earlier (12:1–8). John records very clearly that Judas already had the heart of a thief. He was in charge of the disciples’ “money bag” and had a habit of stealing money from it. This was a morally compromised man.
Peter, on the other hand, passionately loved and served Jesus. However, he seemed to be impulsive. Like Judas, Peter had been rebuked by Jesus before. Just after Peter proclaimed that Jesus was “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), Peter quickly stuck his foot in his mouth. When Jesus then predicted His own death, Peter swore this would never take place, and Jesus rebuked him harshly for it (verse 23).
Then, at the Last Supper, Peter didn’t understand the act of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Jesus tried to explain things, but Peter still seemed to be stuck in the physical world and missed the spiritual point. So when it came time to stand up for Jesus on the fateful night of His arrest, is it any real surprise that Peter responded emotionally and denied knowing Jesus, even to the point of making oaths and calling down curses?
You know what happened to both of these men. They had epic failures. Judas had Jesus arrested. He finally realized—but far too late—that he had made a huge mistake. The deal with the religious leaders was done. He abandoned the money and hanged himself (Matthew 27:1–10).
Peter acted rashly and cut off the ear of a man in the arresting party. Every other disciple then abandoned Jesus that night, but Peter followed at a distance and began to really mess up. After his third public denial of Jesus, Peter realized his huge failure and “wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:69–75). Instead of ending his own life, he returned to his old life. We’ll look at Peter’s restoration later in this study, for what took place should give us all hope.
For now, we close by looking at our own pasts. Specifically, think of a moment when you had your own epic failure. Perhaps you did something out of anger. Maybe you should have shared the Gospel with someone but didn’t. Chances are good you have a broken relationship in your past that hasn’t been reestablished. It’s time to lay this burden at the feet of the Savior and ask for forgiveness and restoration.