I Come To the Garden… with a Mob
Matt 26:47-54
It was 8:50 AM, September 11, 2002. A platform was set up in the huge crater
where the year before the twin towers stood.
As the crowd gathered around, individuals came up and quietly read the
names of 3000 people who died that day in the terrorist attacks.
It is a stark reminder at how final death is. How profound death is. How inevitable death is.
When Judas brought the mob to the garden, that should have
been the beginning of the end, but in reality, it was simply the
beginning. What does the death of Jesus
mean for us today?
Today I want to move into the “Christ Crucified” aspect of
this series. We’ve looked at some
different aspects of preach Christ, now we need to understand what the crucifixion
of Christ means to Christianity and also to telling the people about why they
need Jesus.
PRAYER
I. Betrayal
A.
Judas
1.
Judas isn’t exactly one of our favorite Bible characters.
2.
Have you ever met anyone named Judas?
3.
It’s a name with such a darkness associated with it, that no
one in the Christian world would dream of naming their child Judas.
B.
Betrayal
1.
We know one motivation of why Judas betrayed Jesus, Greed, but
there are arguments that he reasoning was much deeper and less sinister.
2.
Many scholars argue that Judas, thought to push Jesus to show
who he really was and thus claim his true title of Messiah.
3.
Judas believed Jesus would use his deity and free himself from
the Roman captors and put the world right again.
4.
When he didn’t do that, the guilt of what Judas had done was
so great he hung himself.
5.
There is no way to prove that side of Judas one way or the
other, all we know is that he betrayed his master.
C.
Images from the garden
1.
AS you read the 4 accounts of this part of the trial and
crucifixion, you see some incredible things happen.
2.
Judas comes with the mob, probably a group of Jewish men
augmented with the temple guard.
3.
Jewish, religious, committed to God’s temple and it’s leaders.
4.
Judas is at their head, and to point out who they were to
take, he tells them he will kiss the man who is Jesus.
5.
This kiss is a kiss of tender love.
a)
It’s the same special word for kiss used by the father towards
the prodigal son.
b)
It was the same word used by Paul and the elders of Ephesus.
c)
It wasn’t a simple signal, but an endearment.
6.
And then the response of Jesus was to call him “friend” a word
only used 3 times in the NT and means close friend or companion.
7.
One more strange event during this story. John points out that when they asked who was
Jesus, his response of “I am” was of such apparent power that these soldiers
fell to the ground.
8.
The power Jesus could have unleashed with a simple command…
and yet he never did.
D.
Lessons
1.
I want us to think about some possibilities that may not make
us to happy.
2.
What if this story really points to the fact that we are
Judas?
3.
We don’t purposely betray him, but the result is still the
same.
4.
Jesus has the power to obliterate us, but instead chooses to
call us friend.
5.
Why didn’t Jesus just wipe the earth clean of Judas and the
mob?
6.
Why doesn’t he do the same to us?
II. Death
of the Savior
A.
It’s the plan
1.
READ Matt 26:56
2.
This is God’s plan all along.
3.
Satan didn’t pull a fast one and trip Jesus up with Judas.
4.
Jesus knew it was coming.
It was part of his plan.
B.
It had to happen
1.
For God to redeem man, Jesus had to die on the cross.
2.
Jesus went willingly because he knew it was the only way to
save you and me.
3.
A simple command from Jesus would have set him free and
destroyed his enemies…so he remained silent.
4.
Jesus had to die.
a)
Inevitable.
b)
Profound.
c)
Final.
III. God versus Death
A.
The death of Jesus means life for the Christian
1.
The Jewish leaders thought that the death of Jesus would end
the issue.
2.
Satan thought that the death of Jesus would end the issue.
3.
Even his disciples thought that the death of Jesus would end
the issue.
4.
His death wasn’t the end, it was the means to a much greater
end.
5.
His death gave us life.
6.
His death gave us hope.
7.
His death gave us salvation.
B.
The real message
1.
That’s what we need to understand and that’s what we need to
tell those we come in contact with.
2.
Judas and his mob didn’t blow God plan, they were part of
God’s plan.
3.
On 9-11 another story happened. On a flight doomed to kill possibly many more people, the
passengers sacrificed their lives so others might live.
4.
Understanding the death of Jesus reminds us that he sacrificed
his life so we might live.
5.
But as we will learn over the next few weeks, God is much
stronger than death.
6.
Let us never forget, never forget, that just as Judas betrayed
Jesus, so have we.
7.
Let us never forget, never forget the sacrifice Jesus did for
us and why.
8.
Let us never forget, never forget this was God’s plan for our
salvation.