Peter and Judas

Peter:
"And Peter remembered the words of Jesus, 'Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.' And he went away weeping bitterly." - Matthew 26:76

Judas:
'"When Judas, the traitor, realized that Jesus had been condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death.' So, throwing the money into the Temple, he went away and hanged himself." - Matthew 27:3-4, 5

Judas has gone down in history as the man who betrayed Jesus, when in reality, he went back to the temple and gave the money back while Peter went on to deny he even knew Jesus three times, so who is the bigger traitor? Looking at the passage and comparing these two people, I would say that the crime was not the betrayal, but the sin was not asking for forgiveness. Both of these figures denied the man they followed, both of them regretted it whole heartedly, but only one went off to repent while the other took the easy way out by taking their own life. Since we are all sinners, we need to ask ourselves if we are Peter or if we are Judas. When you sin, do you hold it inside of you until you start to feel dirty and even grow to hate yourself like Judas did, or do you practice repentance, do penance and emerge stronger as Peter did? Make no mistake about it, the ultimate sin was not the betrayal, so if Judas would have repented, turned back to Jesus and asked for forgiveness, he would have been one of the original leaders of the church, just as Saint Peter is today. Peter spent his life struggling to calm his anger, fight grudges and his own imperfections, but his redeeming quality was that he took his sin and purged it, always seeking God even when he fell time after time. He went away to strengthen himself, get himself on his feet and he came back to lead the church into Pentecost. Judas let the sin and the self-hate fester within him so that no forgiveness was possible and his life was lost forever.

You, like all the sons of Adam and Eve, are a sinner, but are redeemable. You can be made clean, but you have two paths in front of you, two solutions for your sin. Do you take the path of Peter, or do you take the path of Judas?

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the gift of Your body and blood. Through it, You grant forgiveness of all of our sins, no matter how evil. Please Lord, let me take full advantage of your redemption so that I may never let my sins eat away at me, but that I may find peace in You to be healed and restored. In Your Name we pray, amen.