Year B. 1st Term. Lesson 10. JESUS SERIES. Friendless Jesus.

Scripture: for teacher background:  Matthew 26:31-35

Also John 13:21-29   Luke 22:47-62

Making contact:

Warning sounds – make the sounds or have the sounds on tape or real ones for the children to identify and tell you what the sounds are warning.

E.g. school bell – warning you classes are beginning; ambulance, fire engine or police siren – mind out of the way – emergency; a certain song – signaling church is beginning; a cell phone ring or message telling you there is a call or message; a beep to say battery is low; thunder to say rain is coming; a cry for help…………

…

There was a sound in the Bible that made one man very, very sad, because he had blown it, just as Jesus said he would – the sound of a rooster crowing.

 Exploration:

Jesus knew that He was going to die and He kept warning His friends that this was going to happen.

 One of his close friends Judas went to the chief priests and asked how much they would pay him if he handed Jesus over to them and took them to where Jesus could be arrested quietly at night. They gave him 30 pieces of silver.

In the meantime, Peter boldly said that he would die with Jesus. Jesus sadly told him that before the rooster crowed the next morning, Peter would have denied him!

After supper, where Jesus had showed them how to have communion and when He had also washed their feet, Judas slipped away into the night. Jesus and the others went to the garden of Gethsemane. 

Jesus was praying in agony here, asking God if this whole thing could be avoided, but it couldn’t, it was the only way to free us and wash our sins away. Jesus knew He had to die.

The next minute, Judas arrived and greeted Jesus with a kiss. He had brought soldiers with him, who grabbed Jesus and took Him away. All Jesus’ friends ran away.

Peter followed from a distance and outside the High Priests house, he was warming himself at the fire and 3 different people accused him of being with Jesus.

 He denied it all 3 times. Just then the rooster crowed and he remembered what Jesus had said.

At that very dark time in Jesus life, His friends abandoned Him! FRIENDLESS JESUS! 

Application

Every one of us will have the chance to speak up for Jesus or deny Him like Peter did. 

This will be a test to see if we truly love Jesus or not. Are you proud to be His follower or are you ashamed? 

Do you get mocked or even hurt because you are a Christian? In some parts of the world, the Christians are persecuted.

A true friend of Jesus will be loyal to Him, no matter what happens.

Sometimes it is in small things that we deny Jesus. Maybe our behaviour hurts Him sometimes because we are doing something are saying something that embarrasses Him and the church.

Earlier this term, on the 1^st February in the lesson entitled “Baptized Jesus” the children wrote a letter as to how they would like to change. You kept these sealed and unread. 

Today hand them out and give the children a chance to be quiet and read them to see if they have carried out what they hoped to.

Does Jesus have a friend in me? Am I loyal to Him no matter what?

Challenge to Mission

Look for a chance to speak up for Jesus, even if you are the only one. 

Be a true friend to Jesus. Also be a true friend to others and never betray anyone.

Ask forgiveness from someone you may have betrayed.

Consolidation

 There is a worksheet with pictures of Judas betraying and Peter denying.

 A rooster is confidently “speaking out” 

The children are challenged to speak out.

Memory verse:

"If you are ashamed of Me and My message, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when He comes in His glory and in the glory of His Father and the holy angels."

Luke 9: 26