Luke 22:47-53 (ESV)

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

It’s hard for us to relate to how dark it was at night back then. Without electric lights, they only had the moon and stars – when it wasn’t cloudy. Even significant oil based lighting was not available. Whale oil would become abundant centuries later with improved harpoon designs, but for now oil is precious.

So, it would have been somewhere between very dark and pitch black. This explains why they needed Judas to identify Jesus. They’d seem him plenty of times, but that was in the daylight. Now they can hardly see anything.

But the real key to Judas’s role is that he knew where to find Jesus. This was not by chance. Jesus either made this easily predictable or explicitly told Judas where He would be. This adds a puzzling element to the whole event – especially for Judas.

Put yourself in Judas’ shoes for a moment and try to imagine his thinking. Jesus makes it perfectly clear to Judas that He knows what he’s up to, plus He actually helps him do it. Obviously, Judas isn’t on board with the whole “Jesus is the Messiah” bit, much less that He’s God incarnate.

But then, as this plays out, he watches Jesus’ predictions come true in precise detail, while his own expectations are never met. Every event challenges his assumptions.

This will get in his face so bad that it literally kills him.

When something is true, refusing to believe it can wear people down. We should use that more presenting the gospel. One of the best ways to lead someone to Christ is to lead them towards Christ.

By this, I mean set them up to be confronted by the truth of the gospel. The goal here isn’t to convince them, just to plant seeds that will sprout later. The confrontation may occur later. In fact it’s best if it comes from something they see or read on their own.

The best truth to work with isn’t any kind of doctrine, or plan of salvation, it’s the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Start with a point of agreement such as, “Nero was a real person who ruled Rome from 54 to 68 AD.” This leads to tough questions for a non-believer.

Did he actually torture Christians? Did they actually refuse to recant? Why?

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies