Tag: Mount of Olives

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 NT26 – The Triumphal Entry

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 12 verses 1 to 19

The Triumphal Entry

Once again Jesus came to Bethany. It was about six days before the important Jewish ceremony of Passover. During Passover, Jews from all around the world returned to Jerusalem to sacrifice a Passover lamb and remember how God had rescued the Israelites from Egypt!

The Passover had been the last and greatest sign God had performed in Egypt as He’d prepared for His people to be set free from slavery. On the night of that first Passover, every Israelite family had to sacrifice a lamb and smear its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their house and stay inside, dressed and ready to leave Egypt. Then, at about midnight, the angel of death went through the whole land of Egypt to kill the first-born son in every household. But, whenever he came to a house with the blood of a lamb smeared on the doorposts and lintel, he would know that there had already been a death in that house, the death of a lamb in place of the first-born son, and so the angel of death would ‘pass over’ that house and go onto the next. This way, all Israel was saved from the loss of their sons by obeying God’s command to sacrifice a lamb in their place. (PAUSE)

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethany, they stayed with Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead, and a meal was served in Jesus’ honour. Jesus knew what was ahead of Him, and even though this was a celebration, the atmosphere was heavy as Jesus thought about what was to come.

While Jesus was eating His meal lying with his head towards the table and His feet pointing away as was the custom at that time, Mary, Lazarus’ sister, came to His feet with a large jar of very expensive perfume. Then, breaking the seal on the jar, Mary poured the perfume over Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair – filling the house with fragrance.

Somehow Mary understood how Jesus felt and so she did this beautiful thing for Him. But not everyone who watched understood or cared about what was happening. It was Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, who spoke up. ‘What does that woman think she’s doing?’ he exclaimed. ‘That perfume was worth a small fortune. We – we could have sold it and given the money to the poor instead of wasting it on Jesus’ feet!’ Not that Judas cared for the poor, he was just horrified to see all that money ‘go to waste’ as he thought. You see, Judas was in charge of looking after the disciples’ funds, and as well as ‘looking after’ the money, he also made sure he ‘looked after’ himself, stealing money when he thought no one was looking!

But Jesus turned to those who were unhappy with what had just happened and replied, ‘Leave her alone. Mary has done this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but I won’t be with you much longer.’ (PAUSE)

Now Jerusalem was only a couple of miles away, and when all the people who’d come for the Passover celebrations heard that Jesus was in Bethany, they flocked to see him and to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. (P)

The next day, Jesus made preparations to go to Jerusalem. Calling two of His disciples to one side He said to them, ‘You see that village over there? I want you to go into that village and as you enter it you’ll see a young colt – a young donkey that’s never been ridden before – tied up by the side of the road. Untie it and bring it here to me. Should anyone ask you what you’re doing, tell them, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back soon.’

The two disciples did what Jesus said, and sure enough, as they entered the village they found a young donkey that had never been ridden before tied up outside a house. As they started to untie it, some of the people standing nearby demanded, ‘What do you think you’re doing untying that colt – it’s not yours.’ After the briefest glance at each other, the two disciples told them exactly what Jesus had said to say, ‘The Lord needs it and He’ll send it back soon.’ At that the bystanders let them take the donkey to Jesus. (P) Bringing the colt to Him, His disciples threw their cloaks over it, and Jesus sat on it, riding towards Jerusalem. (P)

Although people didn’t realise it at the time, Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy that said: ‘Do not be afraid, people of Israel. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.’ But it wouldn’t be until after Jesus had gone back to heaven that they’d start to understand. (PAUSE)

The crowds thought Jesus was the Messiah and expected Him to be a warrior king and to take over the country and get rid of the Romans. But Jesus wanted to show them that their ideas of what the Messiah would be like were wrong. So instead of coming to Jerusalem on a warhorse, He chose a simple colt – refusing to be the kind of Messiah the crowd wanted!

By now the crowds were very large, and as Jesus made His way to Jerusalem, they threw their cloaks on the road ahead of Him, and they went into the fields to cut palm branches to wave. And as the procession reached the place on the road where it descends from the Mount of Olives, His followers started to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for the wonderful miracles they’d seen.

‘Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ they shouted. ‘Bless the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!’ (P)

As usual some of the Pharisees had come along to find fault with Jesus. And when they heard the crowd shouting these things they couldn’t believe their ears! So shouting across to Jesus they said, ‘Teacher! Tell your followers off for saying such things!’

But Jesus shouted back, ‘If they were to keep quiet, the stones along the side of the road would burst into shouts of joy!’

And so, as the Pharisees watched the procession and saw the huge crowd that had come to see Jesus, they said to each other, ‘That’s it, we’ve lost! The whole world’s gone after Him now!’