Scenes of Betrayal

Intro: We’re going to do something a little different tonight

We’re talking about Jesus’ betrayal today, and the way that John writes it out is almost like a play. There’s a few acts, but we’ll get through three of them today.

So, we’re going to go through each scene one at a time, but as we’re doing that, I want you guys to close your eyes and really place yourself in the story.

Scene One: Jesus at the Garden

John 18:1-14.

Jesus has a hidden, but present, power.

V. 6: When the soldiers want to take Jesus, He says “I AM” and everyone falls back

That feels weird doesn’t it? It’s not often that I fall backwards when someone says something.

But Jesus said that phrase that we see all through John

Remember, whenever He says that, He’s showing that He’s God, and so, when He says “I AM,” He is poiinting out that He is God, and then He seems to show some of His glory,

When faced with the poewr of God, they can’t stay standing

All that is cool, but then it’s contrasted with how

Jesus was so willing to go!

v. 11, the whole scene is so dramatic, but Jesus is calm the whole time.

He doesn’t freak out, He doesn’t get mad, He is willing to accept that all of this is happening.

Jesus is so obedient to the Father that He can be obedient to the point of death.

So, we have a God who is so very powerful, but so willing to sacrifice for us.

Scene 2: Jesus in the Courtroom

John 18:15-27.

We’ve got two things going on here: Jesus’ fake “Trial” and Peter’s denial

The Trial

Jesus is grilled on who He is and His teaching by the high priest (the top dog); but the whole time, we see it’s a sham trial!

They don’t care about what Jesus is going to say, they just want to hurt Him!

Yet, the whole time, He’s calm and points to the truth. He doesn’t give in to frustration or the game that the priests are playing

Since the priests can’t get Him to say what they want, they send Him away

The Denial

The whole time in the background, we see Peter struggling to follow Jesus.

He fights the guards in the beginning, and He even follows Jesus to the courtroom, but the people start asking Him if He follows Jesus.

Peter is scared, and so he denies knowing Jesus at all.

Have you ever had a friend pretend like they didn’t know you to get points with others? That’s what Peter does!

He doesn’t want to get hurt, so he abandons Jesus to make things easier

Luke actually states it a little differently.

When Jesus met Peter, John says that Jesus “Looked” at Him.

John 1:42 ESV

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

The word for look is like when you look at someone and you have a deep connection with them.

Then, when Peter denies Jesus in Luke, it says

Luke 22:61 ESV

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”

Jesus knows what’s going on. He knows that Peter is denying Him, He even said it would happen in John 13. He knows.

Jesus stands, Peter folds.

This scene is two different realities.

For Jesus, He stays strong and doesn’t give in to the Pharisees game. He stays faithful to the truth.

For Peter, he gives in the second things get difficult.

We have a God who stands with us even when we fail.

Even when we sin, even when we ignore God, even when we do what we know we shouldn’t, God is still there.

“It was the real Peter who protested his loyalty in the upper room; it was the real Peter who drew his lonely sword in the moonlight of the garden; it was the real Peter who followed Jesus, because he could not leave his Lord alone; it was not the real Peter who cracked beneath the tension and who denied his Lord. And that is just what Jesus could see.… The forgiving love of Jesus is so great that He sees our real personality, not in our faithlessness, but in our loyalty, not in our defeat by sin, but in our reaching after goodness, even when we are defeated - W. Barclay”

Scene 3: Jesus in the Palace

John 18:28—38.

Then, the Pharisees take Jesus to the Roman governor’s house to try to get a sentence and Pilate (the governor) asks Jesus some questions.

The Irony

First, look at the irony of the Pharisees!

V. 28 “They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled…” WHAT?

They are willing to make up story to try to get Jesus killed, they can attack the Son of God, but they want to keep their rituals intact?

They are so willing to hold on to their religion that they lose their souls.

The Kingdom

Then, Pilate starts asking Him questions about who He is and what He’s doing.

Pilate asks Him, are you the King of the Jews?

Pilate wanted to know, essentially, if Jesus was a terrorist against Rome.

Jesus seems to deny that, but He will not say that He’s not a King, because He is!

But His Kingdom is different.

This is what we’ve talked about for so long in this study.

Jesus has brought the Kingdom of God down so that you and I don’t belong to the world anymore, we belong to the Kingdom of heaven.

God has come down in the flesh, and with Him, He brought a new reality.

Jesus even says why He’s here: To bear witness to the truth.

Jesus came down to show us the truth: the true way of life, the true human, the true God, the true Kingdom, and He’s done it since the beginning.

And then Pilate rejects Him to His face!

Pilate asks a stupid, petty question, “what is truth?”

It rejects Jesus entirely!

But, Christ has come, and He’s declaring truth, and it’s up to you to see it and believe it.

So, don’t be like the Pharisees who make their religion the thing that defines them, follow the King and live in His Kingdom!

Questions.

What is the coolest sounding instrument?

Why is God’s power so important in God’s sacrifice?

What do you think of Peter in his denial? Have you ever denied (or maybe avoided) Jesus to look better?

How is following Jesus different from religion?