| Chief Priests |
| Although most priests and preachers start out being good, sometimes a few of them don't stay good. Have you ever known someone to start out good but did bad sometimes? Most priests in Jesus' day were good, but some chief priests didn't like Jesus and wanted him killed. They were afraid Jesus would get so powerful he would take away their important jobs as priests. For two years they tried to find a way to secretly have Jesus killed. But Jesus lived in the opposite end of the country where they couldn't control the people as well. They couldn't find anyone willing to kill Jesus. When the bad chief priests interrupted Jesus' sermons to try to make him look bad, Jesus announced to everyone they were trying to kill him. Of course they denied it. Sometimes they followed Jesus around asking him questions that, if he answered them, would make people mad at him. But Jesus didn't fall for their tricks, and people loved him more and more. Jesus kept telling people he was from heaven and going back to heaven soon. He also told everyone about these bad chief priests and said God did not approve of them. But when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead just a few miles from Jerusalem, the bad chief priests got madder than ever. It proved he was from God, and they didn't want people to believe that. Not long after, there was a big parade in Jerusalem. Thousands of people lined the streets and declared Jesus their high priest and king. Then Jesus went into the Temple and threw the sacrificial animals out of the courtyard where the priests were selling them for a big profit. He said the Temple was to pray in, not sell things in. Something had to be done. The bad chief priests knew they were about to lose their important jobs. So they held secret meetings to decide how to kill Jesus. They decided to make the Roman Governor Pilate believe Jesus was against Rome and wanted to be the king instead of the Roman king. They also found an apostle willing to help them arrest Jesus. The apostle's name was Judas. It was like everyone was wearing a mask. That is what it is like to be a hypocrite. They were acting like they were good in public, but in private they were really bad. If you go to church, you should not be good only when you are there. You should be good everywhere ~ at school, at play, at home, visiting friends ~ everywhere. |