Judas

Everyday sayings from the Bible. To explore their relevance today.

by Peter Mattacola

Suitable for Key Stage 2

Aims

To appreciate how sayings from the Bible have become part of our everyday language. To explore the relevance of this saying today.

Preparation and materials

• Familiarize yourself with the story from the Bible of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus, and Judas objecting (John 12.1-8).
• The story could be mimed by children.
• For more suggestions about using drama in assemblies, see our resources section.

Assembly

1. Introduce the term 'Judas' and ask if any of the children have heard it used about someone in an unpleasant way. For example, it has been used at football matches, where a player joins a rival team and then goes back to play at their old ground with their new team. Rio Ferdinand was called Judas at Elland Road when he returned with Manchester Utd.
   
   
2. Tell the story of the woman anointing Jesus. The perfume was worth thousands of pounds in today's money.
   
   Explain that Judas was one of the disciples (or special friends) of Jesus, but he was thought to be a thief, helping himself to money from the money box they shared. When the woman poured the perfume over Jesus' feet, Judas criticized her for wasting money, perhaps because he would have liked that amount of money for himself, or perhaps because he really thought the money was being wasted.
   
   Later in the story of Jesus, Judas accepted money to take soldiers to the secret garden where Jesus went at night with his friends to pray. Jesus was arrested. Afterwards Judas felt full of guilt and killed himself.
   
   
3. Say that we are going to think about how this could apply in our school, and tell the following story:
   
   Mark and Jude were very good friends. They had been friends since they started school. Although Jude had a few friends, Mark only had Jude as a friend. One reason for this was because Mark had a secret - something he didn't want everyone at school knowing about. His dad was very poorly. He was often in hospital and the rest of the time was at home in bed. Mark didn't want the other children at school to know about his dad because he didn't like people making a fuss and always asking how his dad was. So Mark didn't have friends to stay for sleepovers, except for Jude, who he trusted to keep his secret.
   
   One day Mark and Jude fell out during a game of football. Jude was very angry, and went off to some other children and started saying bad things about Mark. He also let slip about Mark's dad being ill. After that, everyone knew. Although the other children were very kind, Mark felt close to tears at times because he didn't want to be reminded of his dad's illness at school. His friend Jude was genuinely sorry about what he had said, but it was too late and he couldn't undo the wrong.

Time for reflection

Think about the fact that one of the most important choices you make in life is how you treat your friends. Decide that you will always be a true friend and not give away other people's secrets.

Dear God,
Thank you for the gift of friends who care for us.
Help us to be true friends to others.
Amen.

Song/music

'Said Judas to Mary' (Come and Praise, 28)