Luke 21:37 – 22:6
Plan to betray Jesus
November 10, 2010
Set the stage:
Since He entered the city in chapter 19 to the cheers and praise of thousands, Jesus has been doing 2 things constantly. Over these final few days of His public ministry, Jesus has constantly taught the people in the Temple, and He has constantly confounded and enraged the religious leaders.
Jesus’ “fame” and popularity was growing exponentially at this point, and the religious leaders were at their wits end. They had tried all they could to discredit and dishonor this man, but Jesus had frustrated all of their efforts and it had served to only INCREASE His standing with the people. They were desperate, but it was a guarded desperation.
In v.37-38 of chapter 21 we can see.
37 And every day He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. 38 And early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.
We see that Jesus had returned to teaching the people, which was what He wanted… the confounding of the religious leaders only happened because of their hard hearts and unwillingness to see God at work in Jesus. This attitude is evident all throughout the Gospel of Luke, let’s look at a few places where it is most evident:
Righteously Indignant: Luke 13:13-14 [have someone read]
13 And He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day."
Tried to scare Jesus: Luke 13:31 [have someone read]
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill You."
Complained Loudly about Jesus breaking traditions: Luke 15:1-2 [have someone read]
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."
Challenged theologically: Luke 17:20 [have someone read]
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed…”
Protested Jesus’ followers proclamation of Messiah: Luke 19:39 [Have someone read] 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."
Challenged His Authority to teach: Luke 20:1-2 [have someone read]
1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, "Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority."
Wanted Jesus GONE… tried to trick Him: Luke 20:19-20 [have someone read]
19(AC) The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20(AD) So they(AE) watched him and sent spies, who(AF) pretended to be sincere, that they might(AG) catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of(AH) the governor.
Tried to Humiliate Him: Luke 20:27-33 – [summarize]
And so we get to the end of chapter 21 and we find that Jesus has thwarted all their attempts to dishonor and discredit Him and the religious establishment is now furious and blind with hate and anger. They want Jesus DEAD…
Robert Stein in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke said this about v.2…
2 …the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death…
Stein says, “There is no longer any question [among the religious leadership] whether Jesus should die. Only the question of by what means Jesus died.”
The end of verse 2 also gives us the reasoning for this panic and it was because the religious leaders were afraid of the people… afraid that they would turn away from them and turn TO Jesus, in fact it had already begun and they had to put a stop to this NOW!
But to prove to us that we battle NOT against flesh and blood, but against spiritual principalities and the rulers of this world… we can see that the religious leaders were helpless on their own, but the Evil one steps in and takes the lead. This reveals who the TRUE enemy here is… it is NOT the religious leaders, although they seem to be willing accomplices… but the enemy is SATAN himself!
We see this evident in v.3 [have someone read]
3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve…
Here the enemy of God takes the reins in this battle and presses forward full speed ahead because he sees an opportunity for what he believes to be VICTORY! If Christ is persecuted and killed, especially on a crucifixion cross… He would be discredited, dishonored and stripped of any power and Satan would win!
V. 4-6 reveal the plan… the plan is to betray Jesus at an opportune time. What we need to understand here is that Judas is not someone who has come out of hiding to betray his leader who is hiding somewhere… where the authorities cannot find Him!
Jesus is NOT in hiding in fact we just read in 21:37-38 that Jesus was in the Temple every day, in clear and plain sight, teaching and speaking of the Kingdom. And at night He would retire to the Mount of Olives to sleep… this was not a secret… all knew of His whereabouts. So Judas was not betraying Jesus’ location, but Judas’ betrayal would be one of time and opportunity… why is that important?
Look at v.2 again… the last phrase in this verse reads, “…for they feared the people…” This phrase parallels several other phrases that Luke uses in his Gospel where the religious leaders feared to do something because of what the people thought… or because of what they thought the people would do to them if they did…
In 20:5-7 we see them dealing with this very thing when they could not answer Jesus’ question with the answer they believed correct… they did not answer as they believed but deferred to NO knowledge… why? Because they feared what the people would do to them!
In 20:19 we see the same thing… this time it was not an answer to Jesus’ question, but the religious leaders had come to the point where they knew they could not discredit Jesus… they could not dishonor Him… so their answer was that they wanted to ‘lay hands on Him…’ Which is a phrase that indicated they wanted to capture Him, and then beat and kill him… to get Him off the streets teaching and get the people’s focus back on them as the religious leaders!
But once again they do NOT act… why? look at the end of that verse… here’s that phrase again: “…but they feared the people!” Now Jesus was openly and brazenly teaching over their protests and their protests were falling on deaf ears within the public… they were furious. So they WANTED to lay hands on Him and kill but they feared the people… their desire was for blood… their desire was for death… and this plays right into the hands of the Enemy…
Peter tells us in 1 Pet 5:9 [ESV]
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
We are called by God to watch out and be on guard because the Enemy seeks to destroy and devour us… Satan is always looking for a weak spot, a weak link… and it seems as if Judas was the weak link or had a weak moment. Judas was not sober minded… Judas was NOT seeking God’s kingdom or being watchful for the enemy because he was overtaken by him.
Now I want us to look and see that money was NOT the reason for Judas’ betrayal, even though the religious leaders agree to pay him money… Judas’ betrayal of Jesus stems from Judas’ lack of watchfulness and sober mindedness… Judas let his guard down and the enemy pounced!
So many times in life, this is what happens to those who proclaim Christ… They are walking with Christ and then they allow themselves to let their guard down, they are not sober-minded, they are not watchful and the enemy swoops in and infiltrates their life…leading them down a path of destruction!
So we can see here that Judas was an instrument in the hand of the enemy to betray and capture Jesus, but in typical Satan fashion this action is done, NOT in the Temple in the light of day… NOT out in the open when all the people could see… but it is done in secret, in the dead of night, when there is NO crowd to see… Satan works hard in the dark areas of our life!
When we stray into dark areas… we make ourselves susceptible to Satan and his attack. He will not confront us head on when we are walking with Christ upright and in the light of Christ… but when we stray away and allow ourselves into the dark areas, he is waiting to pounce on us!
As we move forward in our study I ask you to go back and read chapters 18-21 again and then read chapter 22 looking at how things tie together. Reading the parallel passages in Matt and Mark as well will give you some greater insight.
There are 2 key things I want us to remember from this passage-
1 - As believers we must strive to be like Jesus. Jesus was out in the public… Jesus was pressing FORWARD with His mission… He understood there were enemies and they wanted Him stopped, but He pressed forward REGARDLESS the cost.
AND
2 – As believers we must be always watchful and sober minded because we have to understand that we are at war. We are at war with the spirit of this world who seeks nothing but destruction for us! He lures and promises and tempts us with things that look beautiful, but when touched turn to rotten, putrid ugliness. Be on guard, don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by his temptations and lies.
