A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life,
But a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit.
(Proverbs 15:4 AMP)
This week, I was at a local store when I heard a baby crying. The baby was sitting up in the cart—clearly not old enough to walk yet. Apparently, the mother didn’t know what had triggered the outburst and couldn’t figure out how to calm him down. Instead, she kept calling him, “you little sh*t, you little sh*t.”
My heart sank for that baby’s future. Growing up in an environment where those words—and the meanings behind them—shape your sense of self is incredibly hard to overcome. Will that little guy—maybe nine months old—come to understand himself as a nuisance? As a metaphorical pile of garbage?
I pray not.
Jesus, too, spoke words of prophecy over his disciples—not because he wanted to curse them with his words, but because he knew the events that would unfold during Holy Week.
As he finished his public teaching and turned his focus toward what was to come, he said, “You know that the Passover is coming in two days, and the Son of Man is to be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.” (Matthew 26:2 AMP)
Later, as he reclined at the Passover meal—what we now call the Last Supper—he said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you that one of you will betray Me.” (Matthew 26:21 AMP)
After the meal, when they went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, he told them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night [disillusioned about Me, confused, and some even ashamed of Me].” (Matthew 26:31 AMP)
And when Peter protested, Jesus replied, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, this night, before a rooster crows, you will [completely] deny Me three times.” (Matthew 26:34 AMP)
Jesus didn’t say any of these things because he wanted them to betray or abandon him, but because—as God—he knew their hearts, their intentions, and the reality of how those things would shape their actions.
And it all happened like he said.
Judas betrayed him to the Jewish leaders. Peter denied him three times. The rest of the disciples abandoned him in his time of suffering. The Son of God’s closest friends who had spent three years with him deserted him.
If you know the story, you know that when he realized what he’d done, Peter was crushed with overwhelming regret. In Matthew 26:75 (AMP), we read: “Peter remembered the [prophetic] words of Jesus, when He had said, ‘Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly [in repentance].”
The Passion Translation puts it this way: “With a shattered heart, Peter left the courtyard, sobbing with bitter tears.” In that moment, the weight of Jesus’ words—spoken over and about him—must have been unbearable.
Judas, too, fulfilled Jesus’ words. Matthew 27:3–4 (AMP) tells us: “When Judas, His betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was gripped with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’”
Various translations of this verse note that he “repented” or was “deeply sorry” for what he had done. From there, we know he took his own life (Matthew 27:5) and has been reviled ever since—to the point of being placed in the lowest ring of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, because of his betrayal of Jesus.
Each of these men’s lives were forever changed by their actions. So, why did one end his life and one continue?
I speculate, but I wonder if the words Jesus had spoken over Peter gave him a hope that Judas didn’t have. In Matthew 16:18 (NIV) Jesus tells Peter, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” This is an extremely powerful word spoken over Peter: that he would be the Rock (Cephas) on which Jesus builds his Church. Perhaps in the depths of his anguish for denying he knew Jesus, some part of Peter remembered this important and hopeful word – that he would have an important Kingdom purpose.
If Jesus had spoken something similar over Judas, the Bible doesn’t tell us. We’re told that after he realized Jesus was going to be condemned to death, he was filled with remorse and tried to undo what he had done, returning the money he’d been paid. When he couldn’t retract his decision, he was despondent. Seeing no hope at all – and likely remembering Jesus’s words that he would betray the Son of Man – he ended his life.
For centuries, scholars have debated why Judas would choose to betray his Rabbi after all he’d experienced. Was he evil to the core? Were his earthly ambitions for Jesus not realized? In impatience, was he trying to goad Jesus into revolting against the Romans? I don’t know; the Bible doesn’t clearly tell us. In the end, all he had left was regret and despair.
Today, let us be people who speak words of hope into others’ lives.
Jesus,
Thank you for the fullness of what you have done for us through your passion, crucifixion, and resurrection. Today we pray for all those whose lives are filled with hard, belittling, depressing, and soul-crushing words. Like that baby at the store, we pray for their hearts and souls. May their spirits hear the hopeful Good News of Jesus Christ and be healed from destructive words, and brought into fullness of hope because of your love. May we be people that speak goodness and life into the lives of those around us. When we fail, like Peter, help us to lean into your mercy and grace, so we can release the sin and regrets and go forward in life confident of who you are and who we are in you. May your purposes and plans be fulfilled within us, we pray in Jesus’s name. AMEN.