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Last updated 3.55pm Sunday 12 April 2026 (BAF).
Sunday 12 April 2026
The Marriage of Tom Ibbott and Poppy McCarthy
Yesterday, Saturday 11 April 2026 1pm
If you would like to see the video of the wedding, once it has been edited, please contact Tom or Poppy.
Weekly Sheet
The weekly sheet is available to download (12/04/2026) as are the sermon notes.
Audio recordings - Full service recording available 3.55pm.
Heating at Church
Although the new boiler will be installed this week, we will meet in Church today.
Zoom
Join using this link from 10.15am ready for the service start at 10.30am. Please enter your name on the meeting screen so we know who you are.
Sermon Notes
Also available to download.
Jesus Betrayed and Arrested
John 18:1-14, 19-24
A different approach! Piecing together the details from the four gospels of this event read to us from John, with a particular focus on Judas.
Back in the Garden - Eden/Gethsemane
The location, Gethsemane, where Judas betrays Jesus and that he was arrested is not a minor detail but is profoundly significant!
Remember John’s purpose in writing his gospel: ‘these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ (20:31) John intends that his audience recognise that Jesus is the Christ – the promised Messiah who was to rescue Israel from their sin. Therefore, the moment that Jesus willingly hands himself over to the powers that would condemn him to death takes place in a garden, where in one sense everything began. For Gethsemane, think Eden! By the end of the day Jesus will be buried in a tomb in a garden, from which he will rise on the third day.
The similarities are compelling. The place where the serpent – Satan – tempted Eve to reject God, is the same place Judas, submits to Satan’s temptation for him to betray Jesus. The place where death entered the world because of sin, is the place where Jesus willingly surrenders his life so that sin and death may be defeated.
The place where God had promised he would rescue his people: ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel’ (Gen. 3:15), is the same place where this enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman would come face-to-face. Remember that before Jesus dismissed Judas from the upper room, Jesus quoted Psalm 49:1: ‘The Scripture will be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me’ (13:18) Jesus is the seed of the woman and Judas represents the seed of the serpent, all those who would reject Jesus.
So, in the garden all that has been planned since before the creation of the world comes to a head.
Sovereign Will - Jesus knew what Judas would do
‘Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him’ (18:4)
Despite outward appearances the events of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and his ensuing arrest only happened because God permitted it to happen and because Jesus, the Son willing surrendered to them.
Jesus had come for this very reason: ‘Then the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem’ (9:51)
Everything that took place in this last week of Jesus’ earthly life had been prophesied, ‘it is written …’ In Zechariah 11 the prophet speaks of Israel rejecting the Great Shepherd and records the Shepherd saying: If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them. ‘And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price [‘the ultimate sarcasm from God greets the ultimate insult from humanity’] at which I was priced by them. So, I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter’ (11:12-13) Sound familiar? ‘And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So, they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers’ (Matt. 27:5-7)
The fact that all that happened was according to the sovereign will of the Father is such a reassurance for those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus. Nothing happens outside the will of the Father, NOTHING!
A Hardened Heart - Judas knew what he was doing
Scripture is not charitable to Judas. Whenever his name is mentioned, it is accompanied by a reference to the fact that he was the one who betrayed Jesus. When the gospels record a list of the twelve disciples, he always the last name mentioned.
There can be a tendency to feel some sympathy for Judas. If all this was according to the will of God, then ‘poor Judas’ was just an innocent pawn in a spiritual conflict, he had no choice. To think like this is to fail to understand the sovereign nature of God and the sinful nature of the human heart.
There is nothing innocent or naive about Judas. Judas was very aware of his motives and his actions and despite all that he saw and heard in the three years he was with Jesus nothing changed in him. A clear example of this is found in his response to Mary – the sister of Lazarus and Martha – anointing Jesus’ feet with an expensive ointment in John 12:1-7 which occurs immediately after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. – ‘Mary broke her bottle to give all she had to Jesus, while Judas wanted to break inti the money pouch to take from Jesus’ (Phillips)
Judas was clearly never a genuine believer, a fact known to Jesus. It is interesting to note that the New Testament does not record Judas referring to Jesus as Lord, only Rabbi – Matt. 26:25. The time this is recorded reinforces the fact that Judas was never a true believer, for it is after Jesus has washed the disciple’s feet and informed them that one of them would betray him. The other eleven as, ‘is it I lord?’ whereas, Judas looks to Jesus and asks, ‘is it I Rabbi?’
In accepting the sum of thirty pieces of silver in exchange for betraying Jesus, Judas reveals his regard for Jesus, for this was the sum to compensate a slave owner if a slave was gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32) - Judas had valued the life of Jesus as that of a slave, which adds to the fact that he no doubt would have felt justified as Jesus adopted the posture of a slave to wash his disciples feet.
The final insult, from Judas’ perspective is the choice of picking Jesus out for the over-the-top force he brought to carry out Jesus’ arrest – an intimate act of kissing Jesus on the cheek, standing in stark contrast to his act of betrayal.
Searching Our Heart
The role of Judas in the final days of Jesus’ earthly life provide important challenges for every believer:
Judas saw Jesus a means-to-and-end – he was only interested in what he could get out of following Jesus. The contrast with Mary in John 12 provides a picture of a true disciple. Are we ready and willing to give all to Jesus?
Only Jesus saw the hardened heart in Judas, to everyone else he seemed to be a genuine follower. Does Jesus recognise the person we are before others?
Jesus knew what Judas and the officials of Israel had planned and did not fear them, even though he would be taken to the cross. Why? Because his Father in heaven is sovereign, therefore there is nothing to fear. Do we recognise and embrace the God who is sovereign?
Thursday 24 March 2026
Jim Harries - End-March News
In Jim's latest news he ponders whether he is a 'missionary'. This fits in well with our 'Love Your Church chapter on sending This is the video to which Jim refers:
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