Overcoming Your Mistakes

A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.” But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”  And he went outside and wept bitterly.

– Luke 22:56-62 NIV

Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests  and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

 – Matthew 26:14-16 NIV

Two disciples, two mistakes, two outcomes. What are the lessons we can learn from the fall of Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot? What does it mean when someone makes a mistake? It could mean an action made from a false sense of judgment resulting in harsh consequences. Regardless of the intention, we cannot deny that mistakes happen, but it all comes down to how we respond to our mistakes. What went through your mind when confronted for being mischievous, and consequences were considered? Remembering personal times when I made mistakes during different periods of my youth has me reflecting on my emotions at that time.

I remember when I was eight years old at a family event in the river of Medina, Texas. One of my younger cousins and I played as they had a strong water gun in their hands. They began to squirt the gun in my face that had a strong blast, and I became irritated. The more I told them to stop, the more they did it, and it resulted in me wanting to retaliate and pick up a rock-throwing it right at them. I remember seeing the small rock hit their forehead and hearing a scream. I got in trouble right away by my parents and was told to get out of the water. As upset and shocked as I was, the purpose of this story is not about the mistake I made by throwing the rock but the reaction I gave after.

I felt like I was in so much trouble I went off to a chair by myself and didn’t want to talk to anyone. Later that day, my cousin and I apologized to each other and moved on with our family event. However, that feeling I had after the incident still didn’t go away; I felt down and felt like I shouldn’t show my face to anyone in my family. What was this I was feeling, and why was it bothering me so much? The answer is what we all feel after a bad mistake: “SHAME.”

Shame is a painful feeling to have, and we have all felt it at some point, but the crazy thing about this is what it does to a person who feels it—going back to the two disciples, Peter and Judas, who both made a mistake betraying the Lord. What I want to focus on are the shameful reactions they both gave.

Two things we can learn about Simon Peter:

• Wanting to be seen: We all know the story of Peter when he started his journey with Jesus. He was a fisherman in the sea of Galilee, living in poverty, with no clear identity. However, what I want to know is what led to his downfall in denying Jesus three times, something that Jesus blatantly told him he was going to do. What I could learn from Peter and the many interactions he had with Jesus was wanting to be noticed by him. In Matthew 16:13-20, when Jesus responds to false rumors about him and asks the disciples who they say he is, he gets the response from Peter. The way Jesus responds to him is exciting, replying with, “And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[b] will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[d] loosed in heaven.”

Jesus understood Peter’s passion for the foundation of faith but, at the same time, saw his insecurity for wanting to stand out among the other disciples. In Matt 26:31-35, after Jesus states the details about his death, he tells Peter right in his face the same night he will deny him. What we can learn from Peter is one thing: the insecurity of approval. When we go into the mindset of caring about the approval of others, we will end up disappointing everyone. Peter wanted the spotlight of Jesus, but when the spotlight was on him, he panicked and feared for his life. Once that happened, the bible says he ran off weeping.

• Retaliation: One thing most may not know about Simon Peter was the short temper he had. In different parts of the gospels, we learn where Peter would react out of frustration and anger in challenging situations Jesus and the group would face. The most notable case is where he cut off a temple guard’s ear while they were attempting to arrest Jesus in John 18. You may not have been aware of this, but multiple times in the gospels where Jesus corrects Peter on his retaliation, including this moment where Jesus tells him to put down the sword stating, “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.”

The conclusion is that Peter’s issue was his approach toward people and his response. How do you respond when someone pushes your buttons getting under your skin? Peter did not have a good reaction to people most of the time, especially if it came to someone posing as a threat. Most theologians even believe Peter was not on good terms with the disciple Matthew before they officially followed Jesus. Retaliation can be a typical response we may give to someone we don’t like, but like Simon Peter, it will get us into a challenging position we didn’t see coming. Or did you see it coming?

Two things we can learn about Judas:

• The struggle of influence: There’s the question that is always asked: Are you a leader or a follower? In the case of Judas, it was not about the leadership he was developing but who he was following. Most theologians have given the origin of Judas, a scholar for the Jewish Sanhedrin, who was also believed to have an affiliation with a savage religious group known as the zealots. Like the Jewish Sanhedrin, this group had a false view of the foretold messiah. There was the belief of the messiah delivering the Jews from the poverty of Rome and Herod Antipus. The point is, that Judas was influenced by how the Jewish culture portrayed the image of Jesus before he followed him.

This is something that needs to be addressed in our church today, which is the influence in our culture. Going to church or surrounding yourself in a Christian environment could be easy to do nowadays. However, are we all on the same page in the beliefs of Christ? There are at least 300,000 churches in our country today, and there is a variety of churches teaching different gospels. Some are influenced by pop culture, others are affected by the impact of society, and I’ll say it some are being influenced by the Devil, leading to pure destruction. This is why we see so many pastors who seem like they have it all together suddenly exposed from a crazy “religious scandal.” What is the influence of your Christian walk today, the opinion of man or the Word of God?

• Secrecy: Let’s start with Jesus’s confrontation with Judas revealing who will betray him in John 13 and Matt 26. What I found interesting about Jesus in the last supper was his enjoyment of the last few moments of life and the preparation for what was to come. Part of that preparation was facing the cause of his death, revealing the group’s betrayer. In John 13:27, After Jesus reveals Judas, the bible states that Satan entered into him (Judas), leading to Jesus telling him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” What just happened? Jesus was confronting Judas’s ultimate betrayal of “secrecy.” This term is what most of us struggle with and are entirely unaware of the destruction secrecy causes.

No one likes bringing their destructive thoughts out in the open, making this an easy access for the Devil to take control. Judas’s struggle with influence on the beliefs of the Sanhedrin led to him setting up the capture of Jesus in secret. To this day, no one knows the true motive of Judas turning Jesus in. Some believe it might have been greed, confusion, or even something unintentional, but Judas’ mistake was not turning in the messiah but doing all of it in secret. Most of the time, our biggest mistakes come from what we want to keep hidden, and when it comes to light, it can bring great chaos to our image, making shame an easy emotion to cling to.

Remember, “It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.” Ephesians 5:12-13 NIV

What we can conclude?

So understanding the characteristics of both Peter and Judas, what is there to determine? Summarizing what we discussed on these characteristic traits we have….

1. Wanting to be seen (Need for approval)
2.  Retaliation (Fear of Man)
3. The Struggle of Influence (People pleasing)
4.   Secrecy (A form of insecurity)

These four traits listed are the symptoms and characteristics of shame. Both stories from these two disciples are sad, but what makes Judas’ story tragic? Simon Peter denied knowing Jesus in a scary and vulnerable moment and preached to thousands of people 50 days later, speaking on the message of salvation. On the other hand, Judas felt like the only thing to do was commit suicide after he realized what he had done. What is the difference, and why did Peter have a better outcome?

The answer is Peter’s passion for Jesus, if you read all of the gospels and what we’ve talked about so far. Peter’s love for Jesus is what helped him overcome his mistake. The fact he sought approval from the right person instead of modern culture gave him the revelation that your shame is only part of your story and not the end. Judas, I’m sure, had some powerful encounters with Jesus, but it was his insecurity about wanting to please people that ended tragically. Your purpose are not defined by your mistakes, they are meant to be part of the redemption given for God’s glory.