Tag: Caiaphas

Episode NT29 – Gethsemane

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Matthew chapter 26 verses 30 to 69

Gethsemane

DISCIPLE ANDREW ‘After we’d shared our meal together and Judas had left, we went to a place we often went to together, to a hill nearby called the Mount of Olives. As we were walking along Jesus spoke to us. ‘Tonight,’ He said, ‘every one of you will desert me. For it’s written in the Scriptures, ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’. But after I’ve risen from the dead, I’ll go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.’’

‘Once again my brother Peter was the first to speak. ‘But Lord,’ he said, ‘Even if everyone else leaves you, I never will!’’

‘Jesus stopped for a moment and looked at us. ‘Peter,’ He replied, ‘the truth is, this very night before the cockerel crows you will have said three times that you don’t know me.’’

‘’No way!’ Peter insisted. ‘Even if I have to die with You, I wouldn’t deny I knew You!’ And all the rest of us said the same thing.’

‘When we arrived at a garden full of olive trees called Gethsemane, Jesus told us, ‘Sit here while I go on ahead to pray.’ Taking Peter, James and John with Him He began to be filled with sorrow, anguish and deep distress. Turning to the three of them He said, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and pray with me.’ Then, going a little further on by Himself, He fell face down on the ground and prayed, ‘Father if it’s possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. (P) And yet, I want what You want, not what I want.’’

‘After Jesus’d prayed this prayer He got up and went back to see Peter, James and John, but they’d fallen asleep. So waking Peter up He said, ‘Peter, couldn’t you stay awake and pray with me for just one hour? Keep alert and pray otherwise temptation will overpower you! Because, even though the spirit is willing, the body is weak!’’

‘Then Jesus left the three of them and went back to pray, ‘My father. If this cup of suffering cannot be taken away until I drink it, then may Your will be done.’ Once again, after praying, Jesus returned to find His disciples sleeping. They were so tired they just couldn’t keep their eyes open. And so He went back a third time to pray, praying the same thing. ‘My father. If this cup of suffering cannot be taken away until I drink it, then may Your will be done.’

‘Then coming a third time to His disciples He woke them from their sleep. ‘Still sleeping?’ He said, ‘Still resting? Look, the hour has come and I, the Son of Man, have been betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s go, my betrayer has arrived!’’

‘Even while He was speaking Judas Iscariot, one of His closest disciples, one of the 12 of us, arrived with a crowd of people sent by the chief Priests armed with swords and clubs. Judas had arranged a special signal with the crowd so that they’d know who to arrest. ‘This is how you’ll know who Jesus is,’ he’d told them, ‘He’ll be the one I greet with a welcoming kiss.’ And so, walking straight up to Jesus he said, ‘Greetings Teacher,’ and gave Him a kiss.’

‘I can’t even begin to imagine how Jesus felt. One of His closest friends, a disciple, someone who’d shared His food, was betraying Him! But looking at Judas He said, ‘My friend, do what you came to do.’ And at that, others from the crowd grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.’

‘It was then that my brother Peter decided he ought to show Jesus just how ready he was to die for Him. And so, grabbing a sword, he slashed at the first person he came across who happened to be the servant of the high priest. It wasn’t a very effective blow, but it did cut off his ear!’

‘Put your sword away!’ Jesus shouted. ‘Don’t you know that those who use the sword will die by the sword? Don’t you realise that if I wanted to I could ask My Father to send twelve legions of angels to protect us and He would send them at once! (P) But if that happened, then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?’

‘Then reaching out His hand, Jesus touched the high priest’s servant’s ear and healed him. Turning to the crowd, Jesus asked, ‘Every day I sat in the Temple courts teaching and you didn’t arrest me. So why have you come to me now with swords and clubs as if I were some kind of dangerous criminal starting a rebellion? But this is happening to fulfil the words the prophets wrote as recorded in the Scriptures.’ (P) To my shame, it was then that all the rest of us, His disciples, His closest friends – ran away and deserted Him, fearful for our own lives.’ (PAUSE)

‘Jesus was led to the house of Caiaphas the high Priest where all the teachers of the Law and other leaders had gathered, even though it was the early hours of the morning. I found out later that Peter followed on behind, a long way back, and eventually made his way into the courtyard of the house, waiting to see what would happen to Jesus.’

‘There was nothing legal or right about that gathering. Such was their hatred for Jesus that they were prepared to break their own laws to make sure they got rid of Him, even if that meant meeting in the middle of the night! And so Jesus stood in the middle of this illegal court waiting to hear what they’d say as the entire council tried to find witnesses to tell lies about Him. But the law said there had to be at least two witnesses to any charge if the person was to be found guilty! The witnesses they brought against Jesus told all kinds of lies, but none of them could agree – so they were worthless. Finally, the council brought forward two men who shouted, ‘This man Jesus said He’s able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it again in just three days!’ But even these men didn’t get their stories straight!’

‘The high Priest knew he was losing the argument, but he couldn’t give up now and let Jesus go. He had to do something, anything, to get Jesus to say something that could be used against Him. And so, once again breaking the law by asking Jesus to answer a question that the law said He didn’t have to answer, the high priest shouted at Jesus, ‘I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you’re the Messiah, the Son of God – or not.’’ (PAUSE)

‘If Jesus said no, they’d have to let Him go. But Caiaphas knew He wouldn’t – or couldn’t – say no, because it would have been a lie. So raising His head to look at them, Jesus answered Caiaphas’ question. ‘Yes, it is as you say. And the day will come when you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God in the place of power – and coming back on the clouds of heaven.’’

‘At last, Caiaphas had got something he could work with. So in a show of mock horror he stood up and tore his clothes shouting, ‘Blasphemy! He has spoken blasphemy claiming to make Himself equal with God! Why do we need any more witnesses? You have all heard His blasphemy with your own ears. What’s your verdict?’ (P) It would only be blasphemy if it wasn’t true – but this court wasn’t interested in truth; its only interest was in getting rid of Jesus once and for all.’

‘’Guilty!’ came back the shouts from the crowd. ‘He is guilty of blasphemy and must die!’’

‘After this, they spat in Jesus’ face and hit Him with their fists. Some of them even slapped Him and jeered at Him, ‘prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit you this time?’

Episode NT25 – Lazarus

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 11

Lazarus

DISCIPLE ANDREW ‘When the messenger arrived he had a serious look on his face and we could tell his message was urgent. Going straight to Jesus he said, ‘This message is from Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, who live in Bethany which is in Judea. They say, ‘Lord, the one you love is very sick.’’

‘We’d experienced a lot of trouble from the religious leaders in the area of Judea, even so, we expected Jesus to tell us to pack up and go to there. Instead, He told us, ‘Lazarus’s sickness won’t end in death. It has happened for the glory of God. And I, the Son of God will receive glory from this.’’

‘Even though we knew how much Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, we didn’t go to them straight away, instead we stayed where we were for another two days! We were all on edge, having had such a call for help and not having done anything. But when, after two days, Jesus told us that we were now going to Judea, we started to feel nervous! ‘Teacher,’ we said. ‘Are you sure about this? Only a few days ago the Jewish leaders in Judea were trying to kill you and now you want to go back again?’

‘’Our dear friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,’ Jesus told us, ‘and now it’s time for me to go and wake him up.’’

‘‘But Lord,’ we said. ‘If he’s having a good sleep then surely he’s getting better?’

‘Then Jesus spoke to us plainly. ‘Lazarus is dead. And I’m pleased I wasn’t there for your sakes, because this is going to give you another opportunity to believe in me. Come on, let’s go.’’

‘Even if we’d left as soon as the messenger had come we’d never have made it in time to help Lazarus. When we arrived, we discovered that he’d been dead and in his grave for four days already! There were lots of people there from Jerusalem, which was only a couple of miles away, who’d come to comfort Martha and Mary in their loss. We stayed a little outside Bethany, but when Martha heard that Jesus had arrived she came out to meet Him.’

‘’Lord,’ Martha cried when she saw Jesus. ‘If only you’d been here, then my brother wouldn’t have died! But even now I know that God will give you anything you ask of Him.’’

‘Jesus looked at her and said, ‘Your brother will rise again.’’

‘’Yes, I know he’ll rise when everyone does on the day of resurrection,’ Martha replied.’’

‘’I am the resurrection and the life,’ Jesus told Martha. ‘Everyone who believes in me, even though like all people they will die, yet also they will live again. Because, if they believe in me they are given eternal life and so will never perish. Do you believe this Martha?’ He asked.’

‘’Yes Lord,’ she told Him. ‘I’ve always believed that you’re the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who’s come into the world from God.’ After she’d said this she went back to Mary and calling her aside she said, ‘The Teacher’s here and He wants to see you.’ So, as quickly as she could, Mary came to where we were staying.’

‘In fact, Mary left to come and see Jesus so fast that all the mourners in the house thought she must be rushing off to the grave to weep for Lazarus there, so they followed her. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at His feet saying, ‘Lord, if only you’d been here, then my brother wouldn’t have died.’’

‘When Jesus saw Mary’s weeping and the wailing of the other people who’d followed her, and saw how painful and evil death was – He was deeply moved in His soul – and outraged in His spirit at death itself. ‘Where have you put him?’ He asked.’

‘‘Lord, come and see,’ they told Him. And Jesus wept. (P) Some of the people standing there saw Him and said, ‘Look how much He loved Lazarus,’ while others shook their heads and said, ‘This is the same man who restores sight to the blind. So why couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?’’

‘Once again Jesus was overcome with a deep outrage in His spirit at the evilness of death. Then coming to the grave, which was a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance, Jesus ordered, ‘Roll that stone aside.’’

‘‘But Lord,’ Martha said. ‘It’s been four days since we put him in there! By now there’s going to be a terrible stink from the rotting body!’’

‘‘Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believed?’ Jesus said, turning to Martha. After He’d said this, a small group of us rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed. ‘Father, thank you that you hear me. I know you always hear me, but I have said this for the benefit of these people standing here that they may believe that you sent me.’ Then in a loud voice He said, ‘Lazarus, come out!’’ (PAUSE)

‘To be honest with you I can’t really remember how he came out of the tomb because he was all wrapped in grave clothes up with his hands and feet bound and another cloth around his head. But, as I watched the impossible happening before my eyes, I realised Jesus was speaking again, calling out to us, His disciples. ‘Untie him,’ He said, ‘take off those grave clothes and set him free.’ And so we did, and there underneath it all was the same Lazarus we’d always known!’ (P)

‘The strange thing was, it was this mighty miracle that finally turned the chief Priests and the Pharisees against Jesus. Because, while some of the people with us believed in Jesus when they saw Lazarus raised back to life after four whole days in the grave, others ran off to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done.’

‘At once a high council meeting was called. And the topic of conversation? Jesus!’

‘’What are we going to do?’ one of them asked. ‘This man Jesus certainly performs many miraculous signs. But if we leave Him to it, then what? The whole nation’ll end up following Him and then the Romans will come to put the whole thing down and at the same time take away our power – and destroy the temple!’’

‘’It was Caiaphas the high priest who spoke next. ‘You know nothing!’ he said. ‘Don’t you realise that it’s better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish?’ (P) Those words were given to Caiaphas from God – it was a prediction that Jesus’ death wouldn’t just be for Israel, but for the gathering together of all the children of God scattered around the world.’

‘That was the moment when the leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. And as a result, Jesus stopped His public ministry and left Jerusalem to go and stay in the village of Ephraim with us, His disciples – until the right time to show Himself came.’