Betrayed with a kiss

 Betrayed with a Kiss

Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

PROVERBS 27:6

Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests and elders of the people. The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.”

MATTHEW 26:47-48

Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

LUKE 22:47-48

There are kisses — and then there are kisses. There is the quick peck on the cheek a toddler gives to his grandma. But that is nothing like the kiss a new husband gives his bride at the altar. While kisses have different meanings, we mostly think of kisses in terms of affection or romance.

In Jesus’ time, there was another kind of kiss, a kiss of greeting. Men in that culture would kiss each other on the cheek much like we shake hands today. But Judas’s kiss was different. His was a kiss of betrayal. Judas had been Jesus’ close companion for three years. And while he walked and worked with Jesus, evidently he never truly followed Jesus. And when Judas saw that Jesus was not going to bring the political kingdom he had been counting on, he wanted out. More than that, he wanted payback for what he saw as three wasted years of poverty. So for about four months’ worth of pay, he handed Jesus over to those who wanted to kill him.

Of all the pain Jesus experienced in the crucifixion, certainly this sting of betrayal cut his heart like a knife. It wouldn’t have hurt so much if just anybody had set him up for arrest. But Judas was his trusted friend. And that place of closeness gave Judas the access to be able to wound Jesus deeply. But even at this low point in his life, Jesus showed us how to live, how to love, and how to forgive. He called Judas his friend (Mt 26:50), reaching out one more time to remind Judas of his mercy.