100. Arrest

[Pastor Ralph]

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

[hanks]

1. Why is Judas' kiss so hideous? (Luke 22:47-48) Have you been the victim of such a betrayal by those who are outwardly sweet? Have you ever been party to such a betrayal? 
To me, it is a hideous act to use a sign of love as an act of betrayal. With this kiss of greeting, Judas showed himself to be the ultimate traitor. To think that only hours before his betrayal Judas had eaten with Jesus; this is the height of disloyalty and hypocrisy. The betrayal of the Messiah our Saviour, by one of His own disciples who had spent about 3 years with our Lord, and had witnessed all His healings, miracles, and heard His teachings. One cannot imagine what would motivate a person to do such a deed. It can only be that Satan managed to gain control of Judas, for him to perform such inexcusable treachery. No, I cannot think of ever having been a victim of any betrayal, nor have I ever been party to such an evil deed. I can only imagine the pain a close friend can inflict by their betrayal. It happened once to my wife, and it took her years to recover. 
 

[hanks]

2. Why is loyalty so important a quality in disciples? In leaders? 
For both disciples and leaders their highest loyalty should be to God and His eternal values. When Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters (Mat 6:24), He was contrasting heavenly values with earthly values, and He explained that our first loyalty should be to those things that do not fade, cannot be stolen or used up, and never wear out. When it comes to our Lord Jesus there can be no middle ground. Loyalties must be declared and commitments made, sometimes to the point of severing other relationships. As Jesus’ disciples, we demonstrate our loyalty and self-sacrificing allegiance to Him by following His command: "Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me” (9:23). In relationships loyalty is vital and an essential part of true friendship. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Prov 17:17). Often it takes hard times to show which friends are genuinely loyal. We are to be loyal to our church leaders, support them as much as we can. Betrayal, back-stabbing will undermine their leadership and can have drastic adverse results for the church as a whole. However, as Christians, we are told not to follow our leaders/teachers blindly but are told rather to “test everything; hold on to the good” (1 Thess 5:21). 
 

[hanks]

3. The disciples begin to defend Jesus with their swords (Luke 22:49-50). In what way is this courageous? In what way is this foolish? How does their sword defence display their spiritual dullness? 
In John 18:6 we read that our Lord Jesus revealed Himself as the I AM, the Almighty God. This was so overpowering that the crowd briefly drew back and fell to the ground. I think this may have encouraged them to defend Jesus with their swords. If one takes into consideration that there were several hundred-armed troops present, this may be seen as a courageous act, or even perhaps a foolish act. From a spiritual perspective, this was a foolish and thoughtless act, that displayed their lack of understanding of Jesus’ mission. They were using carnal means to fight a spiritual warfare, not realising that God’s predetermined purposes/plans must come to pass. That Jesus had come to die for sinners. 
 

[hanks]

4. Why does Jesus heal the severed ear of His enemy? (Luke 22:51) How is this a rebuke to His disciples? How do you think it affects His enemies? 
Jesus performed a miracle to repair the damage Peter had done. Because of this special act the injured man was none the worse, and the harm done was neutralised by our Lord. We often see this in our Christian life. We mean to do good, but then through just plain ignorance, or carelessness, or some indiscretion we land up doing just the opposite. Fortunately for us our Lord sometimes steps in and undoes all the harm we have done. As mentioned previously, Jesus rebukes them for using carnal means to fight a spiritual warfare. This is a volatile situation and could easily have resulted in further bloodshed if Jesus hadn’t acted as He did. 
 

[hanks]

5. Jesus intends double meanings when He uses the word "darkness" in 22:53. What are the two meanings? 
The first meaning is the power of spiritual darkness. It can be described as a state of spiritual blindness. It is the realm in which Satan rules, where evil triumphs, where there is hatred for anything good, and hatred for our Lord Jesus. But we know that this evil power of darkness will not last for ever. A time will come when purity, truth, love, and righteousness will rule. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. He is absolutely holy, absolutely righteous, and absolutely pure. The other meaning Jesus refers to is the cover of darkness, the darkness of night. Here evil deeds are performed under cover of darkness, thinking that they are hidden and unseen. They forget that nothing is hidden from our Lord. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:13). 
 

[hanks]

6. What are pastors and leaders to learn from Judas' betrayal of Jesus? What are followers to learn? 
I only have to read Gal 5:19-21a to know what we are capable of: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like”. And Judas’ betrayal of Jesus just highlights our condition. To think he spent so much time with Jesus, heard all His teachings, saw all His miracles, and His healings; yet he is capable of such an evil deed! Every part of us – our mind, our will, our emotions, and our flesh - have been corrupted by sin. There is so much in the Bible about our sinful condition, for example, how we love darkness, and how we are held captive by the love of sin (John 3:19). This just shows us, leaders and disciples, that Satan will use all the means at his disposal to attack us and alienate us from our Lord Jesus. 
 

[Irmela]

1.  Why is Judas' kiss so hideous? (Luke 22:47-48) Have you been the victim of such a betrayal by those who are outwardly sweet? Have you ever been party to such a betrayal?

On the outside it seems so genuine. A kiss is to be a sign of friendship of closeness, of love and effection. Judas has used it as hypocrisy. 

Yes, i have experienced that kind of "friendship". It takes years to get over and come to the point of trusting someone again. 

[Irmela]

3.  The disciples begin to defend Jesus with their swords (Luke 22:49-50). In what way is this courageous? In what way is this foolish? How does their sword defense display their spiritual dullness?

It was misguided courage by disciples  who did not discern the will of God in the situation. 

It was foolish as there were so many in the group come to arrest Jesus, armed with swords and clubs. 

Jesus could have had angels help them at His request. But this was the reason He came. He came to give His life

[Irmela]

4.  Why does Jesus heal the severed ear of his enemy? (Luke 22:51) How is this a rebuke to his disciples? How do you think it affects his enemies?

This was not what Jesus had in mind. The disciples (wanted to) were prepared to defend Him using their swords. Malchus was from the chief priest's representative. He might not even have been against Jesus in the first place. By healing him, Jesus showed/proved that his coming had not been for a political take over. Jesus was now ready to fulfil His mission. Nothing was standing in His way. He had Father's backing and was ready. 

It sure gave his enemies something to think about. 

[Irmela]

Jesus intends double meanings when he uses the word "darkness" in 22:53. What are the two meanings?

During the day Jesus had been at the temple and no one had arrested Him. He was in the open. Many t of the same soldiers were there and they had done nothining during the day to arrest. HIM. 

Now under cover of darkness they come to arrest Him. Their deeds are under a cloak. Not there for all to see. It seems like evil is motivating them. 

[Irmela]

 

What are pastors and leaders to learn from Judas' betrayal of Jesus? What are followers to learn?

Leaders too are human. As followers we need to be loyal and pray for the leaders

We are not to be back-stabbers. We are never to take part in  conspiracy against our leaders. 

[Katy]

Q1. Judas used the worst way possible to betray Jesus by using an intimate act which should portray love and commitment as an act of betrayal. Judas had planned with Jesus enemies to watch for the person that he would approach and kiss, this would be the person they wanted to arrest. How hurtful that must have been for Jesus as well as the fact that one of His chosen friends was the one who would betray Him and prove he did not love or believe in Him after all they had been through together in the last three years. I am blessed to be able to say that I have not been betrayed by anyone nor thankfully have I been involved in anything like this.

Q2.In all our relationships in life to make them work properly there has to be loyalty! As Christians our first loyalty is to Our God, and then to our church and Church leaders. This does not mean that we accept everything that is said and put forward in church. We must be discerning , open, honest, encouraging and loyal. Nothing should be said to anyone that can’t be said to a person’s face. We need wisdom and discernment in all our relationships and if this is practised it will filter into every sphere of our lives. Heavenly wisdom is first of all pure, then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit, impartial and sincere. James 3v 17.

Q3. The initial response of the disciples to fight back by drawing a sword was at least an attempt to defend Jesus and stop the soldiers from taking Him away. It was a brave act considering the number of soldiers present , but it was also asking for trouble because how were so few disciples going to defend Jesus when there were so many soldiers present. The action of trying to defend Jesus also showed that they still did not understand that this was the beginning of all that Jesu had been trying to tell them was going to happen. This was the fulfilment of the reason Jesus was on this earth. And the disciples were witnessing it, and nothing they did was going to prevent it from happening.

Q4.Jesus healed Malchus’s ear because He did not want any more trouble for the disciples, He just needed to get on with His Father’s will for Him. No distractions or side issues were necessary or needed to be added to what was taking place. Jesus did not need His disciples to make feeble efforts to save Him, Jesus was about His Father’s business. The soldiers must have been astonished and yet not able to understand. If Jesus could just heal a man’s ear, why couldn’t He save Himself. There must have been some who were curious and followed Jesus after seeing and learning about Him. I am sure Manchus was never the same after the gentle, curing touch of Jesus in the midst of His own troubles.

Q5.The first darkness happened when Satan entered Judas and a time of darkness descended on the whole gathering of Jesus and His disciples . It was a spiritual darknesse. The second darkness was that the soldiers came in the cover of darkness to arrest Jesus, even though Jesus was in the temple every day teaching. The Pharisees were afraid of a revolt by the people if they arrested Jesus in daylight. That would have been bad for them in the eyes of their Roman oppressors.

Q6. No matter how close we are to Jesus and how busy and faithful we are to our church leaders we are not immune to the ways of Satan. If we take our eyes off Jesus even briefly we can be led astray. This is shown very clearly in Judas. He was daily in the presence of Jesus, lived with Him, and yet he betrayed Jesus. It is a warning to us. No matter who we are or what position we hold. None of us is immune. 

[haar]

1.    Why is Judas' kiss so hideous? (Luke 22:47-48) Have you been the victim of such a betrayal by those who are outwardly sweet? Have you ever been party to such a betrayal?

Judas kiss is hideous because a kiss is usually a demonstration of love but his was with an objective to betray Jesus.

I can’t remember being a victim of betrayal and have not been a party of betrayal.

2.    Why is loyalty so important a quality in disciples? In leaders?

Loyalty is so important a quality in disciples and leaders because it demonstrates Christlikeness and maturity. Jesus was loyal to his father.

3.    The disciples begin to defend Jesus with their swords (Luke 22:49-50). In what way is this courageous? In what way is this foolish? How does their sword defense display their spiritual dullness?

The disciples action of trying to defend Jesus with their swords was more of an impulsive act and foolish than an act of courage. This was confirmed by their flight- took to their heels as soon as Jesus was arrested.

4.    Why does Jesus heal the severed ear of his enemy? (Luke 22:51) How is this a rebuke to his disciples? How do you think it affects his enemies?

Jesus healed the severed ear of his enemy to put in practice what he had taught his disciples earlier- to love their enemy. Some of his enemies might have been surprised and probably learnt a lesson from this while the majority might have not been impressed as they were so concerned in getting him out of their way.

5.    Jesus intends double meanings when he uses the word "darkness" in 22:53. What are the two meanings?

One of the obvious meaning of darkness as used by Jesus was to the acts of evil by satanic agents who were bent on silencing him forever.

6.    What are pastors and leaders to learn from Judas' betrayal of Jesus? What are followers to learn?

Pastors and leaders are to be aware that some of those working with them may betray them and thus the need be ever be prepared as Jesus was through prayers for God to empower them to stand firm.

While followers should learn from Judas and be strong in the Lord so that satan will not lead astray to be agents of betrayal.