Journey to the Cross
Judas Betrays Jesus
Matthew 26:16 Judas watched for the right time to hand Jesus over to them
SATTAR was busy plugging in the coordinates for today’s trip in the Time Travel machine when A.J. and Milo walked in.
“A.J., why do you look so sad?” SATTAR inquired.
A.J. and Milo had just come from school where it seems that A.J. had some trouble with one of his friends. A.J. had often played soccer at recess with a boy named Todd. Today, Todd would not play with A.J. He decided that he wanted to play with some other kids and did not include A.J. in the group. Later A.J. found out that Todd had told the other boys that he didn’t even like him.
“I’m sorry, A.J., said Milo. “That wasn’t very nice of Todd to do.”
“Yes, sometimes people who say they are our friend, can hurt us. Jesus knows what this is about,” SATTAR tried to encourage A.J. “Let’s get going on our next time-travel trip to see where Jesus is at on his journey to the cross.”
When A.J., Milo & SATTAR arrived 2,000 years back in Jerusalem, they came upon a meeting between chief priests and the elders of the people. They seemed to be very agitated as they discussed Jesus.
“SATTAR,” Milo whispered, “who are these men?”
“Good question, Milo. These men were the leaders in Jewish culture back in Jesus’ day. You might say they were the top dogs! They made decisions about how the people should worship God and they did not like Jesus! They figured Jesus was going to shake up they way they ran things. They were right! That was exactly what Jesus was planning on doing!”
The chief priests and elders met in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest. They made plans to arrest Jesus secretly. They wanted to kill him. “But not during the feast,” they said. “The people may stir up trouble.”
One of the Jesus’ 12 disciples went to the chief priests. His name was Judas Iscariot. Judas had been following Jesus since the beginning. Jesus had trusted Judas with a special job. Judas took care of the money that Jesus and the disciples had for buying supplies and giving to the poor. Judas had seen all the amazing miracles that Jesus did as well heard all of Jesus’ teaching about God’s kingdom. Even so, Judas had evil in his heart. He cared more about money than his friendship with Jesus.
Judas asked the chief priests, “What will you give me if I hand Jesus over to you?” The chief priests counted out 30 silver coins for Judas. From then on, Judas watched for the right time to hand Jesus over to the chief priests so that they could kill him.
“Oh, SATTAR! That’s awful,” exclaimed A.J. “Judas totally betrayed Jesus.”
“That must have really hurt Jesus’ feelings,” said Milo sadly.
“Yes, I think so,” said SATTAR. “The Bible tells us that Jesus suffered in every way so he could understand our suffering. This is why we can always go to him for help when we have trouble. Not to spoil things,” said SATTAR, “but in the end Judas does realize what a terrible mistake he made. I think we should pray for your friend Todd, so he can learn a better way to be a friend.”
“You’re right, SATTAR,” said A.J., “I think I will try to talk to him tomorrow too!”
Today’s Easter Message for You!
Jesus understands our troubles and is there to help!
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