An Italian peasant woman accidentally bumped into a monk who lived in a monastery on a hill above her village. The older woman hadn’t ever talked to one of the monks who kept to themselves nor would a woman like her ever be invited into the monastery, so she took the opportunity to ask him a question she’d always wondered about. “Father, what do you holy men do up on that holy hill?”
The wise monk thought for a moment before answering, “It’s no secret. We fall down and we get up. We fall down and we get up.”
That’s a pretty good description of the normal Christian life. Unfortunately, the first part, falling down, comes naturally. The second part, getting up, must be learned.
What’s the Difference Between Peter and Judas?
Peter and Judas ended their lives very differently. Peter was one of the first Christian martyrs to die at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero. Judas took his own life in a field near Jerusalem.
But when you read the Gospels, you don’t expect their lives to diverge so drastically. After all, they appear to be far more alike than different. Both men were part of Jesus’s original 12 disciples. Both had trusted leadership positions. Judas was the treasurer and Peter the spokesperson.
And both men fell down near the end of Jesus’s life. Peter denied Jesus and Judas betrayed him. Peter’s sin was rooted in what is commonly called the fear of man. He cared too much about what other people thought of him. Judas was motivated by old fashioned greed, asking the chief priests, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15)
Both men grieved over their sin. Peter wept bitterly when the rooster crowed, and he realized that Jesus’s prediction about his betrayal had come true (Matthew 26:75). Judas bitterly threw the thirty pieces of silver back into the temple as if he didn’t want to be associated with the blood money he’d been paid for delivering Jesus to his enemies (Matthew 27:5).
It’s what they did (or didn’t do) next that led Peter to become a leader in the church and Judas’s name to become synonymous with traitor. When Peter fell, he got up. Judas didn’t. Peter jumped from his fishing boat and swam to the resurrected Jesus he saw on shore. Judas gave up and walked away. Peter’s repentance led to restoration. Judas chose a different path.
What Will You Do When You Fall?
Will you be more like Peter or Judas? Will you get up and take your sin to Jesus? Or will you hold on to your sin and let it become a wedge that separates you from him?
What you do when you fall shows how well you understand the gospel. Grace beckons sinners to come find forgiveness and restoration in Christ. It says that you didn’t start your relationship with God based on your moral performance and neither can you continue it. Grace says that God accepts you when you acknowledge your need instead of ignoring it.
Grace is the all-seeing God asking Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Grace is a great fish spitting Jonah on dry land giving him a chance to come clean and repent. Grace is the Father running to meet the prodigal son and leaving the celebration to plead with his self-righteous older son who remains outside.
God graciously convicts you of sin whether it’s through a friend or a sermon or just your own conscience. That conviction is the Holy Spirit nudging you to confess your sin and draw near to God.
You’ve fallen down, but you’re not alone. Jesus is right there with you ready to help you get up.
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