94. Betrayal

[Pastor Ralph]

Please share your thoughts on one or more of the questions in this lesson. 

[hanks]

1. What kind of schedule does Jesus keep the last week of His life? (Luke 21:37-38) 
During these last days Jesus was busy during the day, teaching in the temple. The evenings, when He was not surrounded by thousands of people, were spent with His disciples on the slopes of Mount of Olives. He was not hiding; He was on a divine schedule and His time hadn’t come yet. Everything was going according to God’s plan. 
He had forewarned the disciples that He must die, that He will be crucified at Passover (Mat 26:1-2). Even as He was uttering the words, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders were gathering in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest, to map out their strategy of killing Jesus (Mat 26:3-5). 
 

[hanks]

2. In what way do the crowds of people protect Jesus from His enemies? Why do they want to kill Him? (Luke 22:2) 
At the time there were thousands of people in Jerusalem. Pilgrims had come from all over to attend the Passover. They also wanted to hear Jesus teaching in the temple. It was for this very reason that the Jewish leaders did not dare arrest Him – they were afraid of the people. Jesus was at this stage still very popular among the people and His arrest could easily trigger a riot, which the Romans would very quickly stamp out by force. So, in this respect the crowds of people protected Jesus from His enemies. We know that Jesus’ death would be timed according to God’s time-table and not that of the priests. They wanted to kill Jesus because He undermined their authority; He criticized the Scribes for their hypocrisy; He interfered with the lucrative money-changing schemes the chief priests had going; and they were jealous of His popularity, taking all the attention away from them, amongst many other reasons. 
 

[hanks]

3. How does Judas enable Jesus' enemies to capture Him cleanly? (Luke 22:6) 
Luke has told us that Jesus’ enemies “were afraid of the people (22:2)."  So, His capture had to be “when no crowd was present” (22:6). This was a vital stipulation of the Jewish leaders; in case a riot broke out. It had to be in secret. “Then Satan entered Judas” (22:3). Judas makes matters easier for them by volunteering to deliver their enemy to them secretly; that is, away from the crowds. This enables them to capture Him cleanly. To think he was one of our Lord chosen apostles, had followed Jesus throughout His ministry, had heard Jesus teach and had seen Christ’s miracles. This same person turns out to be a hypocrite, who betrays his Master, the Messiah, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ! Again, we notice God’s eternal plan coming together – here He used the evil deeds of Judas to help bring about the crucifixion of His Son. 
 

[hanks]

4. How can greed so overwhelm a person that he'll betray his Friend and Saviour for money (or drugs or ....)? 
In these verses we see the enormous power of the love of money. We see Judas being motivated by simple greed. In Matt 26:15 he asks the Jewish leaders what are they willing to give him if he delivers Jesus to them. This shows that Judas approached them and asked for money, which they agreed to do. Judas was acting as treasurer for the disciples, and in John 12:6 we read, “he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it”. Judas's life had become a lie, and the devil was gaining more and more control over him (John13:27). Satan's part in the betrayal of Jesus does not remove any of the responsibility from Judas. He was fond of money. He must have been there when Jesus warned us all about the dangers of greed; “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed” (12:15). He obviously took no notice of this warning. Paul called the love of money a root of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). This love of money must be one of Satan choicest weapons for corrupting us and leading us astray. I can think of Ananias and Sapphira, but none can come close to the betrayal of our Saviour! Let us watch and pray against the love of money in our life. It is a subtle disease and can infect us easier than we can imagine. A poor person is just as liable to it as a rich person. It is possible to love money without having it, and it is possible to have it without loving it. 
 

[hanks]

5. In what ways do our sins give Satan inroads into us so he can control us?

With believers, unconfessed sins give Satan a grip into our lives, and discredits our testimony, offends other believers, and harms us spiritually and physically. For example, we are warned not to let malice, anger, envy, hatred, or passion in our lives, giving Satan a foothold (Eph 4:27). He gets to us through the **** of the flesh, the **** of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16); all of which are not of the Father but of the world. These lusts seek to draw our own flesh away into sin and worldliness. They open the door for Satan, giving him inroads into us so that he can control us. The **** of the flesh includes sexual desire and covetousness, which proceed from within our evil nature. The **** of the eyes applies to such evil desires as may arise from what we see. Left unchecked, wrong desires will result in wrong actions and turn people away from God. Jesus warned us about lustful looking as sin (Mat 5:28). The pride of life is an unholy ambition for self-display and self-glory.

Our foolish pride comes from this world, and so do our selfish desires and our desire to have everything we see. The three vices originate not in the Father but in the world, that is, from Satan. He will exploit any weakness. We are to resist him (James 4:7), and not give him a chance to win us over to his evil cause. With the help of Holy Spirit's power, we can resist the devil, and he will flee from us. We need to be in fellowship with our Lord, and for this to happen we are not to love the world and its hatred of Jesus. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them (1 John 2:15).

[Irmela]

 

1.  What kind of schedule does Jesus keep the last week of his life? (Luke 21:37-38)

The day is spent in the temple, teaching and at night he retires to a hill called the Mount of Olives. 

2.  In what way do the crowds of people protect Jesus from his enemies? Why do they want to kill him? (Luke 22:2)

The Jerusalem leaders want Him killed. The crowds hang on to His Words. They are very attentive listeners. Not just in small groups, but by their hundreds. If anyone went against Jesus it would have caused a riot. 

The chief-priests had a hand in the money exchangers at the temple and Jesus had challenged this practice. 

The teachers of the Law or the scribes oppose Jesus because he caims to  speak and act for God and challenges their authority and interpretations. (The Pharisees for their hypocrisy and the Sadducees for falsely interpreting Scripture.) 

3. How does Judas enable Jesus' enemies to capture him cleanly? (Luke 22:6)

Judas provides information as to Jesus' whereabouts at night when the crowds are not present. 

4.  How can greed so overwhelm a person that he'll betray his Friend and Savior for money (or drugs or ....)?

Greed is not of God. So when greed has a hold of someone, he is allowing the devil a foothold in his life. When he does he plants all kinds if thoughts in your mind and eventually you act and do things contrary to the norm. 

[Irmela]

 

5.  In what ways do our sins give Satan inroads into us so he can control us?

When satan has a foothold in our life he makes us act in ways contrary to when God's in control. He might start out small just with a thought, which we then ponder on. Soon it comes to dissatisfaction. Then bitterness. Then greed or ****. Soon we are overpowered by all sorts of negativity and satan is in control. The peace of God no longer penetrates us as we are overcome with depression or dissatisfaction or be it what it may be. Definately no longer an attribute of God. 

So best is when something negative is detected. Confess it immediately. Turn away from it and cling to Jeshuah and keep your eyes focused on HIM

 

[Katy]

Q1. Jesus last week was spent teaching as many people as He could. Larger and larger gatherings were there to hear Him speak. As the days drew to a close Jesus spent time teaching His disciples, eating and resting with them. Then He would withdraw and spend time in communication with His beloved Father. He drew His strength and fortitude from this precious time. He may have gone to sleep in peoples homes where He was invited to stay but we are not specifically told that.

Q2.Those who were plotting to Kill Jesus were afraid of the people, more and more people were coming to hear Him preach. If they intervened to arrest Jesus with a large crowd present , they were afraid there would be a riot and trouble. This would draw the attention of the Roman soldiers and it would be blamed on the Jewish authorities and they could loose their jobs and that had to be avoided. So their problem was ‘ How can we get Jesus on His own without all these followers’! The crowds of people were protecting Jesus by their very presence with Him. They wanted to kill Jesus for different reasons but ultimately Jesus was showing up all the things that were wrong about what they believed and how they interpreted the Torah and the hypocrisy of their lives.

 

[Katy]

Q3. Judas walked into the chiefs priests at just the right time. They were wondering how they could arrest Jesus when no one was around. They were afraid the people would riot if they realised what they were doing to Jesus so they were planning on arresting Jesus when the crowds had gone but the problem was how were they going to do that. In walks the answer to their problem in the form of Judas the betrayer. Between them they planned to approach Jesus at the Mount of Olives, where Jesus went in the evening with his disciples and to pray. Judas knew where he could find Jesus at a quiet time without His followers.

Q4.Greed is a sin that entwines you with Satan the more you have the more you want. These verses are a warning to us ! When we see that Judas could actually betray Jesus like this after three years spent in His company, learning about the kingdom of heaven and seeing and experiencing the kind of person Jesus was and then to betray his for money. It seems unbelievable but it happened. If Judas is capable of that then unfortunately we are also capable of doing it. We are told in Genesis that every inclination of the thoughts of the hearts of man are only evil all the time. Genesis 6v5. It was in Noah’s day and is the same today. We must guard ourselves against greed and be satisfied with all that God has given us. 
Q5.Once we give into sin , and stop fighting against it, sinning becomes easier. Satan loves when this starts to happen because he can put thoughts into our minds about justifying what we are doing and because we have turned away from God , Satan finds it easier and easier to occupy our thoughts. We must fill our thoughts and minds with the things of God and put any vague thoughts of sin out of our minds. In this way we will not allow Satan to enter our minds and get a foothold in our lives. 

[haar]

1.    What kind of schedule does Jesus keep the last week of his life? (Luke 21:37-38)

He would go to preach in the temple for all day and retired to the Mount of Olives to spend the night probably praying.

2.    In what way do the crowds of people protect Jesus from his enemies? Why do they want to kill him? (Luke 22:2)

The crowds protected Jesus from His enemies in the sense that the enemy would not arrest Jesus in the present of the large crowd who were enjoying the teaching and the miracles by Jesus, and would start a riot and thus create a problem for them and the Roman leadership.

3.    How does Judas enable Jesus' enemies to capture him cleanly? (Luke 22:6)

Judas for different reasons, has fallen out with Jesus and in addition to his greed, was ready to hand over Jesus to His enemies by leading them to where Jesus could be found without a crowd.

4.    How can greed so overwhelm a person that he'll betray his Friend and Savior for money (or drugs or ....)?

Greed, especially for money can entice us to betray a friend.

5.    In what ways do our sins give Satan inroads into us so he can control us?

Sin takes us away from the protection of God and thereby creates a passage into our hearts that enable satan to gain entry.

[George L]

1. What kind of schedule does Jesus keep the last week of his life? (Luke 21:37-38) appears to be normal pattern with more emphasis on the length of his nightly prayer time.
2. In what way do the crowds of people protect Jesus from his enemies? Because of his constant grace and mercy in healings and deliverence they know that power of God has come upon them as it has not done for them by the churches rulers. They value Jesus as no man before him. Why do they want to kill him? Jesus healed the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. The man had been there 38 years. There is no mention of him going to the temple, stronghold of the scribes, pharisees, saducees for healing. Evidently that ministration of grace had already departed the temple.  Even to the Romans it was becoming clear that the temple had become an empty powerless shadow. Jesus was the ultimate threat to religion for political favour,  (Luke 22:2)
3. How does Judas enable Jesus' enemies to capture him cleanly? (Luke 22:6) He provides a time, place knowledge when Jesus will not have the multitude gathered around him.
4. How can greed so overwhelm a person that he'll betray his Friend and Savior for money (or drugs or ....)? So often we see a murder’s face close after the crime. They appear bewildered, blank. The capture of their mind focused on completing the goal appears to depart immediatly from many once the act is performed. I believe that is direct evidence of the evil spirit having control in focusing on completing and shielding out other thoughts. Then abandonmet right after to their fate. Saton is a liar, it will solve your problem, followed by departure once your destruction is accomplished.
5. In what ways do our sins give Satan inroads into us so he can control us? Sin blocks prayers effectivness. You are not heard. As you continue unrepentant your rebellion multiplies your own knowledge guilt. Reducing your trust in God’s statement that He rathers mercy over judgement. We like Peter should turn to forgiveness expecting.