READ
MATTHEW 26:14-16,47-56
Have you ever had your feelings hurt? When someone hurts us, we can feel sad, mad, or maybe even confused. How does it feel if someone close to you hurts your feelings? If someone who we love and call a friend hurts our feelings it can hurt even more. In our Bible story today Jesus had a close friend named Judas who greatly hurt Him.
(Older kids: what does the word “betrayal” mean? Give an example in a book, story, or movie that you’ve seen.)
There were some men who didn’t like Jesus. Those men were supposed to be taking care of God’s people, but instead they were jealous that people were listening to Jesus instead of them. They hated Jesus because they didn’t know how to love. They hated Jesus so much they wanted to kill Him. Those angry men paid Jesus’ friend Judas 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus. How do you think that made Jesus feel? What Judas didn’t realize was that no amount of money would be worth the love of Jesus.
Jesus’ love for us is worth more than gold.
DO
Hide 30 coins around the house, and have your kids search for the coins. Add them up!
Older kids: research how much “30 pieces of silver” would be worth today.
Talk
Confess your sins. What can we ask Jesus to forgive today?
How do people betray Jesus today?
EXTRAS
Bonus content for preschool, younger kids and older kids