LUKE 22:1 – 62: JUDAS AND PETER

© Rosemary Bardsley 2025

Both Judas and Peter were among the twelve disciples whom Jesus appointed ‘apostles’ (see Luke 6:12 – 16); it was these twelve ‘apostles’ whom Jesus gave authority to drive out all demons and cure diseases, and sent out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick (Luke 9:1, 2).

Prior to his betrayal of Jesus, the gospel writers do not give us much information about Judas; John, reporting that it was Judas who objected to Mary’s anointing of Jesus feet with expensive perfume, mentions that Judas was ‘keeper of the money bag’ for the group, and used ‘to help himself to what was put in it’ (John 12:6).

But we are told quite a bit about Peter – his previous occupation, his call to follow Jesus, his impetuous speech and action, his walking on water, his readiness to speak on behalf of the group, his eager, but sometimes misguided, allegiance to Jesus, his belief in Jesus. We also know that Peter, along with James and John, were an inner circle of friends close to Jesus, whom Jesus took with him to witness his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Here in this study we look at the contrast between these two men who both failed Jesus: one a fake follower, the other a genuine follower.

A. JUDAS

Judas is involved in three of the events that Luke reports in chapter 22:

His discussion with the religious leaders, in which he offered to betray Jesus – verses 1 to 6.
Jesus’ statement about the one of the apostles would betray him – verse 21.
The actual betrayal that led to Jesus’ arrest – verses 47 – 48.

What do we know about Judas?
He was one of the Twelve. For three years he had walked with Jesus. For three years he had witnessed the miracles of Jesus – demonstrations of his divine authority and power. For three years he had listened to the words of Jesus – affirmations of his divine being, challenges to faith and obedience.

He was in the group Jesus sent through the towns and villages to preach the kingdom of God (Luke 9:1 – 6). But, although he was physically one of the twelve disciples, spiritually he did not belong. Jesus knew all along that Judas did not really believe, that what looked like faith and commitment was just an outward veneer.

Jesus said of him: ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!’ (John 6:70, 71). And later, to the twelve disciples: ‘... “you are clean, though not every one of you” ... because he knew who was going to betray him’ (John 13:10, 11).

Judas had an extended encounter with Jesus, a three-years encounter in which the opportunity to repent and believe was consistent and sustained. Here is a man, one of only twelve, who spent three solid years with Jesus Christ, hearing his teaching again and again, yet who failed to believe Jesus’ claims to be God in human flesh.

His failure and his façade stand as a warning to each of us to make sure our faith is genuine. They also help us to understand why some people appear to believe for a time, then fall away.

Not all that looks like faith, or claims to be faith, is actually faith. John reported that ‘many people saw the miraculous signs that he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men … he knew what was in a man’ (John 2:23 – 25). Jesus also said: ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21).

Yet, for Judas, even after organizing the betrayal, there were two last chances to believe, two last encounters with Jesus.

The first was everything Jesus said during this last Passover supper, as he pointed to the saving significance of his death. That death, that ‘body given for you’ and that blood ‘poured out for you’, the blood of the new covenant, was sufficient to redeem even Judas, had he heard, had he understood, had he believed in the name of Jesus. But he did not.

The second was in the garden, even as he betrayed Jesus. As he approached Jesus, to give him the identifying kiss, Jesus asked: ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’ (Luke 22:48)

Here Jesus reached out in love, reminding Judas one last time who he really is: the ‘Son of Man’ – the glorious, eternal Lord of all, who receives the worship of people from all nations, and whose dominion and kingdom is everlasting and indestructible (Daniel 7:13, 14). ‘The Son of Man’ is not someone you would betray. The Son of Man could even here, at this last moment, redeem this man. But Judas does not respond.

This betrayal could not destroy the Son of Man, but it could destroy Judas, the one who betrayed him. It was, for Judas, the final encounter, the final word – as even as he betrayed him, Jesus gave to Judas this one final opportunity to repent and believe. To each of us will come, one day, a similarly final opportunity, beyond which the possibility of repentance no longer exists (Hebrews 4:7; 9:27).

It is not that Judas once had faith, but then lost it. Jesus had known from the beginning that Judas did not believe in him, and that he would be used by Satan to engage in betrayal.

Here Luke, like Mark and John in their gospels, shows no interest in Judas after the betrayal. Only Matthew records his subsequent actions (Matthew 27:3 – 5) and the ‘woe’ that overtook him. (See also Luke’s report in Acts 1:18.)

Answer these questions about Judas:
Read John 13:2. How does this help you to understand Luke 22:3?

How do we know that both the religious leaders and Judas were deliberate in plotting the arrest of Jesus?

Read Luke 22:22. Whose sovereign plan and purpose was being worked out in the human choices involved in this betrayal?

Read Luke 22:22. Does God’s sovereign use of human wickedness excuse that wickedness?

Although it may sound wrong that God uses the wickedness of humans to accomplish his purpose, how is this actually a reason for great confidence in the sovereign power and authority of God?

B. PETER

It is good to pause and look at Peter. In particular, it is good to think about the difference between Peter and Judas, and the way that Jesus treated them both.

Here at the last supper is the only reported occasion on which Jesus treated Judas any differently from the way he treated the other eleven apostles. Prior to this, nothing he had said or done to Judas had identified Judas as the one who would betray him, and even here most of what he says does not identify him. While Judas himself obviously knew he was the one, having recently arranged the betrayal (22:1 – 6), the other eleven simply did not have any clear idea who it would be (22:23; see also John 13:21 – 30 and Matthew 26:21 – 25).

But Jesus treated Peter’s denial quite differently, quite openly. Notice the difference between what Jesus said to Judas and what he said to Peter:

He did not identify Judas by name when he spoke of his approaching betrayal (22:21): He twice mentioned Peter by name when he spoke of his denial (22:31, 34).

He spoke of the disaster (‘woe’) ahead of the one who would betray him (22:22): He spoke of Peter beyond the denial turning back and strengthening his brothers (22:32).

He said to Peter ‘Satan has asked to sift you as wheat’ (22:31): but of Judas he had previously said ‘one of you is a devil’ (John 6:70, 71). Having never believed in Jesus, Judas was still under Satan’s dominion; but Peter, having believed in Jesus, was no longer under Satan’s authority. Satan had to ask permission to put pressure on him.

He did not say he prayed for Judas: He said to Peter ‘I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail’ (22:32).

When Judas betrayed him, Jesus reminded him who it was that he was betraying. (22:48); when Peter denied him three times, Jesus simply turned and looked at him (22:61)

It was just a look. But the message it conveyed to Peter was penetrating, powerful and filled with promise.

It said to Peter ‘Remember …’

Remember what you really believe about me: that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Remember your brash confidence - that you would never deny me, no matter what.

Remember, my understanding, my intimate knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses – my statement that you would in fact, deny me this very night.

Remember, also, my promise – that I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.

Remember my anticipation that you will turn back to me - that this failure, real though it is, is just your fear that floats on the surface of the deeper reality of the faith – faith that made you follow me here, when all the others except you and John ran away.

Remember my commission – that you, having turned back to me, will strengthen the others.

It was a look of immeasurable love … not of rejection. A look towards a future … not a termination. A look of hope … not of despair.

Judas, overwhelmed by what he had done (see Matthew 27:1 – 5), and not really knowing Jesus, was ‘seized with remorse’ and was utterly without hope. Focused on himself, he saw no future for himself, and took his own life. [Note that the word translated ‘remorse’ – metamellomai – refers to feeling regret or remorse. It is not, in itself, repentance, which is a change of mind, although it has the potential to produce repentance – to produce a turning to God in faith. But this Judas did not do. His remorse turned him in upon himself, destroying him.]

But Peter, overwhelmed by the power of Christ’s love and understanding, and the hope that went with them, went out and wept bitterly: grieved at his own weakness, his own duplicity; grieved that he by his words of denial had wounded his Master far more deeply than any of the false accusations of the unbelievers ever could.

The reality and depth of his real commitment to Jesus is measured by the bitterness of his tears. Jesus knows our hearts. He recognises genuine faith – even when it is temporarily hidden under a veneer of fear and doubt. Let us take courage from Peter's encounter with Jesus, even when we are overwhelmed by the fragility of our commitment.