Week 14- Judas Betrays Jesus (Luke 22:1-6, 47-53)
Think of a time you have been in a fight or argument with a friend. Why were you mad? Were you able to forgive each other? Was there a reason to be angry did you feel silly afterward for getting so upset?
The other day there was a student who was crying and saying mean things about his best friends because as they were lining up to go to lunch, his friend got in front of him. Even though the friend shouldn't have passed, is that something worth crying over? A few minutes afterward the two boys were laughing and getting along and the entire fit was forgotten. That's how most of our disagreements go... after a little bit of time, we understand what happened and what we need to do to get past it.
I'm going to share with you a really sad story today. Jesus had many friends. His favorite friends were his apostles. We usually call them "the twelve disciples." Jesus taught His friends many things, like how to love each other, and how to make good choices. He knew that none of HIs friends were perfect- just like we make mistakes today, His friends made them back then!- but He still loved His disciples very much. Unfortunately, one of His disciples made a very bad choice. Let's read and then decide if Jesus will forgive him.
In the Book of Luke, Chapter 22, we learn about Jesus' disciple, Judas. "Now the Passover was approaching, and the priests were looking for away to get rid of Jesus." They wanted to get rid of Him because they knew that if too many people followed Jesus they would stop listening to them. They liked having the power of telling people what to do. So anyway, "Satan entered Judas, one of the Twelve." Uh-oh. Here it goes! "Judas went to the chief priests and talked to them on how he might betray Jesus." He was willing to tell them how to capture Jesus! "The priests were delighted and agreed to give him money. Judas agreed and waited for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was watching."
What bad choice did Judas make? (He agreed to betray, or go against, his friend Jesus)
Why did the priests want to kill Jesus? (They were afraid they would lose power if Jesus had too many followers)
Do you think Judas will do it?
Do you think Jesus will forgive Him?
Let's skip down to verse 47, where Judas finally gets his chance. The priests had agreed to pay him 30 pieces of silver if He would identify Jesus so He could be arrested and killed. The priests knew that the people would be upset if they arrested Jesus in the middle of the day, so Judas found the perfect time, when Jesus was almost alone at night, praying in a garden. Two of His disciples were with Him, but they had fallen asleep. As Jesus went over to wake them, "a crowd came up. Judas, one of the Twelve Disciples, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him." That sounds kind of gross, but in some cultures, kissing friends on the cheek is a way of saying 'hello!' "But before He could, Jesus said, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" Jesus knew what Judas was doing. Jesus knew that one of His very best friends, who had been a follower for 3 years, was about to turn Him over to the government. Jesus knew that He was going to die this way. So Jesus looked at the crowd- the priests, the temple guards, and even the elders who had come for him, and He said, in verse 52, "Am I leading a rebellion? You have brought swords and clubs!" Jesus was sad that He was being treated this way. He said, "Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me then. But now, in the dark, you choose to do evil."
Wow! How mean!
How did Jesus feel when He saw that Judas was turning Him in? (He was upset, His feelings were probably hurt)
How do you think Jesus knew that this was going to happen? (He had said that it would happen, He is God so He knows everything, He knew that His time on earth was coming to an end, etc.)
Think about the times someone has hurt your feelings. Maybe they've said something mean about you, or left you out of a game they were playing. Although it hurt your feelings and made you feel really upset, it's not as bad as Judas! Judas was willing to turn Jesus over to die just for 30 pieces of silver.
That Judas seems awful, doesn't he? But Judas was human, and that's the sad part. Every single time we sin, when we choose to do something bad even when we know that we shouldn't, we are betraying Jesus. We are saying, "Yes, Jesus, I know that you're the Son of God, but the things in this world are more important than You."
When we sin, we usually feel bad. If you regret what you did, you can ask God to forgive you for your sins. Do you think Judas felt bad for what he did to Jesus? Let's skip over to Matthew 27, which tells the rest of Judas' story.
Verse 1, "Early the next morning, the priests made their plans to have Jesus executed. So they tied him up and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned to die, he was seized with remorse." This meant that he felt super guilty and really really really really really bad about what he had done. Have you ever had that feeling? Wishing you could take back something that you've done?
Judas visited the priests again and gave the 30 pieces of silver back to them. 'I have sinned.' he said. 'for I have betrayed innocent blood.'" Betraying innocent blood means that He got Jesus in trouble even though Jesus didn't do anything wrong. Jesus was innocent because He was not simply trying to take power away from the Jews. He was not going to overthrow the government and take over as King. That's what Pilate, the governor, thought might happen, but he was wrong. And Judas knew it. Judas knew that Jesus came to this world to save the people from sin and darkness, so that we could live forever with Him in heaven. And Judas felt really bad for lying. Jesus was going to die and he felt like it was his fault.
But the priests didn't care. "'What's that to us?' they replied, 'That's your responsibility.' So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself."
Judas ended up killing himself because he felt so bad for turning Jesus over to the government to be crucified. But he had it all wrong. When we do something to betray our love of Jesus, do we have to die? Absolutely not! When we sin, we confess our sin to Jesus and ask Him to forgive us. If in our hearts we are truly sorry, then He will!
To help remind you that we all fall short (but blessed are we that Jesus can lift us back up!) we are going to make money pouches today. Each student will get a bag and several coins, and you can decorate your bag with fabric markers.
My sample:
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