Q&A 186
Q. Mr. Ram, I have a few questions to ask you...
A. Brooo!!!
Shoot!
Q. This one has to be on QnA
A. Ehe...
Q. So basically we’re here, Good Friday, because of this guy called Judas. Judas sold out Jesus for 30 silver coins. Right?
A. Yup.
Q. But afterwards, the guilt that overcame him was so much that he ended up killing himself for his ‘sin’.
Peter on the other hand, denies Jesus three times and this was the man who was supposed to be the head of the church. Moreover, it shows that Peter wasn’t in as much grief as Judas was for essentially committing the same act, bailing out on Jesus.
So now my question is, why does Christianity exonerate a man like Peter and almost condemn this man, Judas and the way it seems is that Judas had more character than Peter?
A. The Church says 3 things on this question:
1. No one know if Judas went to hell. The Church has refused to make such a pronouncement. Nobody knows.
2. It is possible that Judas repented before he died hanging - we have no record of that, but it is possible.
3. We do have record of Peter repenting - three times. That's why he is "exonerated". Note however that in Peter's Gospel - i.e. the Gospel of his secretary St. Mark - all of Peter's failures are recorded. Meaning that in all his preaching as the "head of the Church", he never forgot his betrayals.
One saint adds
4. We have the example of Peter's betrayal also so that we will always remember that position in the Church, for example, does not assure you of being holy, of being faithful. The first pope was pretty unfaithful.
5. And Peter's betrayal also should give us confidence because the weakest link in the chain of the Church, the weakest pope in the history of the Church, was the first one - the one who betrayed Jesus to his face. And it should give us confidence because that link was held by Jesus and lifted up out of the water when he was sinking "O ye man of little faith, why did you doubt."
Q. I like this. It’s very conclusive.
A. You're welcome.
6thApril 2018