Intermediate Level, Block 9—Biographies of Jesus
Week 87
Jesus—Being Captured and Judged
Point to Emphasize: While Jesus was captured and judged, He always stood for the truth and relied on His Heavenly Father.
Reference Reading: Matthew 26:47-56; Luke 22:51; 23:1-25; Mark 14:53-71, note 621;
John 18:31
Memory Verse: Jehovah is my strength and my shield; / My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped… (Psalm 28:7)
Story Sample
We have been sharing stories on Jesus for a few weeks now, but we have only told stories from one side. However, you should know that there was another side going on. It is like a coin with two sides. On the front of the coin you see a person’s image but on the other side is an eagle. With Jesus, there were some people who were always wanting to see and hear Him. They wanted Him to help them. But the other side is that there were some, mostly the Jewish leaders, who were jealous of Him. They were always trying to discredit Him and make it look as if He was not keeping the Jewish law. They were really out to get Him. At every turn, they were fiercely against Him. They despised Him! And in the end, they wanted Him out of the picture. It came to a point where these Jewish leaders began to plot how they could get Him out of the way. They came up with an evil plan.
One evening, the Jewish leaders sent a mob with swords and clubs to capture Him. It looked like there would be a big fight. Someone seized Jesus! In defense of the Lord, one of His disciples drew his sword and cut off the ear of the slave of the top Jewish leader. As Jesus restored the ear He said, ”Return your sword to its place… Or do you think that I cannot beseech My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:52-53). As the angry crowd seized Jesus and took Him away, all the disciples fled.
Now let’s look at what just happened. What did the disciples do? [Storyteller, let the children discuss this: they tried to fight back with swords, showing they relied upon what they could do to protect Jesus and themselves, then fled when it looked as if their side had lost.] What did Jesus do? [Let the children discuss this: He took care of the damage His disciple had caused to the slave, He spoke about His Father being His protection showing He relied upon God.] There is quite a difference between Jesus actions and His disciples.
Now they had captured Jesus so that they could judge Him and find Him guilty! So, they led Him away to the high priest and the other top Jewish leaders. They had gathered ones who gave false testimonies against Jesus, saying how He broke the Jewish laws and made Himself God. These Jewish leaders were boiling over with hatred and jealously toward Jesus. They would stop at nothing to find Him GUILTY and worthy of death. During all this, Jesus was silent and did not answer anything concerning the false accusations made against Him. But He spoke, only saying that He was indeed the Son of Man and the Son of God.
During this Jewish trial, there was a disciple who came to see what was going on. He stayed a distance away and denied before all around Him that He knew Jesus. So, we have Jesus standing for the truth, those making false accusations, and one disciple keeping his distance and denying the truth because he was afraid of being punished by those accusing Jesus.
In the morning, they bound Jesus and led Him away to the Roman rulers to be judged since it was against the Jewish law for them to kill anyone. Again, Jesus said nothing at His trial as all the false accusations were brought against Him. But the Roman rulers did not find ANY fault in Him but wanted to satisfy the crowds, so they delivered Him to death like a criminal.
Here you see Jesus still standing for the truth and trusting His Father, the Roman rulers bending against what they knew was true (Jesus was innocent) and giving way to the please the Jewish leaders and the crowd. In every situation that came against Him, He always stood for the truth and relied on His Heavenly Father. In all this, we see how noble and distinguished Jesus was!