Religion gr10 ,chap12-13

• Although Jesus selected the disciples to help him in his mission on earth, we can see that all of them did not have similar ideas and did not think in the same way
• This we see from the way they acted and the way they spoke at different occasions
• Each one of the disciples understood the teaching of Jesus in different ways
• Some of the leaders of Jesus was not even understood by them and they only got the superficial meaning only
• We can see this in Luke 18:34
• Why was Judas tempted to betray Jesus?

  Was it because he was greedy for money?
• The disciples were anticipating a position in the worldly kingdom that Jesus was going to establish after defeating the Roman Empire
• The way Jesus behaved and the things he said made their hopes questionable
• For example, Jesus came as a king riding a donkey. This was a good indication that he will not wage war against the Roman Emperor
• That was not the hope of the people
• Therefore, Judas knew that he was losing the popularity, and that his ambitions are also not going to be fulfilled
• The people who should have received Jesus as a king to Jerusalem asked Pilate to crucify him
• Judas who knew the popularity of Jesus, might have thought that although Jesus died, he might not have to face an end like this but that he will somehow escape
• Jesus who fulfilled prophecies of the past, fulfilled the future saying by his death
• We should join the cause of Jesus with the aim of inheriting the kingdom, and it should not have any other worldly desires
• For this we should learn his teaching and understand them correctly
• This is a great challenge we face
• Jews celebrated the Passover festival (feast of the unleavened bread) annually in a very special manner to remember with gratefulness to God bringing them out of Egypt and out of slavery
• Jesus followed all Jewish customs that was there in the society that day
• This time too he got ready for the Passover celebration as it was the last mission on earth
• When we look into the preparation of the Passover festival, we can see that everything took place according to God's plan
• Jesus used the Passover festival to do the special act of breaking bread
• In this act of Jesus we can see three important things

  • 1) Jesus conformed to the customs and traditions of the society that day
  • 2) The goal came by fulfilling prophecies with solemnity and dignity
  • 3) He gave the bread and wine to the disciples, for them to be used for a special purpose: This is my body, which is given for you
• At this event Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to the disciples
• In the same way he gave the cup to them and said "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you"
• At the Passover festival, the peace is provided was four wine cups, but Jesus said that all be sad to do this as often as we can to remember him
• Through this act the disciples symbolized should be the fact that he is sending to us
• This is the blood of the covenant which was shed for us
• Jesus was the lamb that took our sins and paid the price for our sins, and due to the blood that was shed by him we are taken from the darkness of the original sin
• We became part in his suffering
• The mission of Jesus which is spreading the kingdom of God is the common responsibility of Christians
• It is the responsibility of Christian children to take this on as a challenge and be a part of developing the kingdom of God
• After the disciples went to sleep, Jesus went to pray to the Father
• The core of the prayer was "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done"
• Jesus was in serious prayer and was asking the disciples to pray
• The most important prayer and suffering is a couple of steps away when we pray before the trial
• When Jesus was arrested he told the disciples "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation"
• Judas, one of the twelve disciples, came to identify Jesus to the guards to lead them to him
• According to the Jewish culture, a kiss of betrayal was the sign Judas used to identify Jesus
• The words Jesus said to Judas on this time were not words of anger or report they had done poor, but Jesus spoke words of compassion