With this, we begin a 3 part study on the betrayal, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is the reason why we celebrate Easter.

This first post is divided in 2 sections.


1. The Last Supper:

When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?" He answered and said, "He who dipped [his] hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.
The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said it."
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke [it], and gave [it] to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
(Matthew 26:20-30)

What a clearly amazing scene in the life of Jesus, as He sat down with the disciples partaking the first Communion ever, He gave clues about what was to happen. I like the reaction of the disciples as He told them that He would be killed and how they were so sorrowful because they loved Him so much. They were looking at the physical side, they did not want this great man, whom most of them know who He was by them, to leave their side.

Something that has always jumped out to me is the part when all the disciples are sitting on the table and are asking "who is the betrayer" and Judas boldly asks Him "Rabbi, is it I?". I had a recent conversation with someone at church about this particular question. You see, Judas was already planning to betray Jesus, he had been contacted by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, so for Him to ask that to Jesus seems almost like an oxymoron. I love Jesus' answer "You have said it.", it is almost as if Jesus was giving out the answer discretely in a way that only Judas would know. I believe that if things would have been different and Jesus answered the question that all the disciple were asking, they would have jumped on Judas and things would have been different.


An important thing here is the beggining of Communion. This was the first time that it was ever even mentioned and that is what makes it so symbolic and powerful in the life of believers and we are called to do so as believers (read 1 Corinthians 11:23-29). We are called to do this in remembrance of Him and is such a powerful and personal thing that only the true believers should practice.


After this was all done, things progressed to the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.


2. The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus.




The Gospel of John gives a beautiful account of the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In fact, it dedicates a whole chapter to what Jesus prayed to His Father in Heaven (John 17).

But while this was happening, a big commosion of Jews and Pharisees was forming, as they prepared to arrest Jesus and see Him put to death.

Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are [you] still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."
And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him."
(Matthew 26:45-49)

The movie "The Passion of the Christ" opens with this exact scene as it marks the beginning of the death & resurrection of Jesus.

It is amazing how God had planned everything in such a perfect way, the same people that Jesus had come to save were the ones that were wanting to kill Him. Many people judge Judas and say "how could he do that to Jesus? Did he not pay attention to who Jesus was after spending all this time under His teaching?". I believe Judas played a primordial part in the death on the cross of Jesus Christ. God had set Him apart for that purpose.

Greed is always a terrible weapon that Satan uses to get to people. Judas was promised 30 pieces of silver in exchange for Jesus.

Yet God had everything perfectly set up for His plan of Salvation to be completed.

This concludes Part One of the series, we will pick up tomorrow as we look into the death on the cross