LESSONS ON SIN

During Lent, we have permission to drop the façade of perfection - this pretense that we have our stuff together. The season of Lent is all about fostering an awareness of our sin, our need to repent, our need for forgiveness. 

Once we have given our lives to Christ, temptation and sin do not automatically disappear. Sin does not just roll over and die. In fact, we are called into battle with our own sinfulness. Recall that sin is anything which misses the mark of God’s perfection, His holiness, His love. As Christ’s spiritual brothers and sisters, we are called to imitate Christ. To crucify ourselves. To serve God and to serve each other in humility. 

In the 13th chapter of John, just after Jesus has set Himself as an example to His followers by washing the disciples’ feet, we find foreshadowing of two of those same disciples who are about to fall into serious sin. 

Judas’ sin will be betrayal. Peter’s will be denial. Both come to regret their decisions. Both feel shame. Judas to the point of despair. 

God willing, neither you nor I will ever be guilty of such serious sins, but especially during Lent, it is a good idea to look closely at what was at the core of each sin and how they differed. Judas and Peter stand as examples to us, urging us to protect our own selves against even the hint of either betrayal or denial.

Lessons about Sin: (If these things are true about such heinous sins as Betrayal and Denial, they are true for our more common sins.)

1. Jesus is not caught off guard by our sins – He anticipates them. He even knows the timeline and details of Peter’s three denials. 
2. Jesus is not angered by our sins as much as he is saddened. When speaking of Judas’ upcoming betrayal, Jesus is “troubled” in spirit. It is a word meaning agitated or stirred up. Jesus is more distressed than angry. He’s pained, not enraged. Heavyhearted rather than furious. 
3. Jesus stands ready to forgive. Even after thrice denying even knowing Jesus on the very night Jesus has been arrested, Peter finds Jesus ready to restore him to proper fellowship, forgiving him of his failing. How gracious!  Peter had known instinctively that his own life was in danger because He understood that Jesus’ life was in danger. He knew which way the wind was blowing and he had decided to save his own life. Still, he ends up forgiven.
4. Jesus doesn’t shut the door on forgiveness … but we might. The question must be asked, “Could Judas have received forgiveness if he had asked for it?” I think there’s every reason to believe the answer is yes. After all, this is the same Jesus who prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The Pharisees and all those directly involved in Jesus’ crucifixion were guilty of far greater sin than betrayal, right? Furthermore, Jesus specifically taught that there was only one unforgiveable sin: blaspheming the Holy Spirit. As bad as Judas' betrayal of Jesus was, it in no way qualifies as blaspheming the Spirit.

No, the only reason Judas went unforgiven was because he himself closed and locked the door from the inside.