A FAULTY MOTIVE WITH A KISS
Text: Matthew 26:47 - 56
Matthew 26:47-56 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. (48) Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him." (49) At once he came up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. (50) Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you are here to do." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. (51) Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. (52) Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. (53) Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? (54) But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?" (55) At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. (56) But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Why did Judas betray Jesus with a kiss? In that day, a kiss was a way of greeting. Even in some other cultures around the world, kissing is still a way of social greeting.
CULTURAL KISSES
Have you ever thought about the cultural context of kisses?
“In many European countries, people typically greet each other by kissing on the cheek three times, alternately, starting with the right. Indeed, if you find yourself in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovenia, Montenegro, or North Macedonia, … People in Belgium, including men, are also partial to giving each other an air kiss. This is also customary in some parts of Italy (except for the north) among people who know each other very well. then this is the way to go. …. Forbidden kisses; In Qatar, kissing in public could get you in trouble…. In Egypt kissing n public could land you in jail. … It is also illegal in Iowa for a man with a mustache to kiss a woman in public. https://www.expatica.com/living/integration/greeting-customs-around-the-world-11731/ I wonder how that rule would work for a man with a mustache kissing his bride in their wedding.
What does the New Testament say about kisses?
Five times in the New Testament, the scriptures tell us to greet one another with a kiss (Rom_16:16; 1Co_16:20 ; 2Co_13:12; 1Th_5:26; 1Pe_5:14). Judas used this kiss, which was a sign of greeting as a sign of betraying Jesus.
THE KISSLESS CRITICS
Jesus once talked about a sinful woman who wet His feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair. He said this in response to a Pharisee named Simon who questioned if Jesus was a prophet. I love how Jesus put the Pharisee in his place at his own his and at his own banquet. Jesus politely rebukes this Pharisee named Simon in his arrogance as he points out Simon’s hardness of heart. “Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet” (Luke 7:44 - 45).
She was kissing Jesus’s feet out of joy from being forgiven and set free from the power of sin that made he a slave to guilt. Jesus told her that she was forgiven.
Remember the kiss of the father of the prodigal son upon his return home? The father saw him far off and ran to greet him and kiss him as the elder brother refused to greet him without a hug, let alone a kiss as he sulked!
PREDESTINED BETRAYAL
What was his motive for betraying Jesus? After all didn’t Jesus pick Judas to be a disciples knowing fully well that one day he would betray Jesus? So why in the world would Jesus pick Judas any way?
What were the possible motives for Judas to betray Jesus?
1) Trying to force Jesus hand: Years ago, I read one of William Barclay’s books entitled the Master ‘s Men, where he mentioned that Judas betrayed Jesus because he was trying to force Jesus’s hand to become the militant leader that he hoped Jesus would be. Had Judas misunderstood the symbol of peace during the Palm Sunday parade where Jesus entered on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)?
2) Predestined: Was there some sort of prophecy that this had to be fulfilled? There are some lyrics to a recent anthem sung by the choir that point to God’s omniscience. “God knew the seed that would grow to be the tree for the old rugged cross”.
Psalm 69:25 written by David was a prophecy that sadly became fulfilled in Judas Iscariot according to Peter in Acts 1:15 - 16. Does that mean that Judas’s betrayal of Jesus was predestined? Based upon how some view predestination, then the answer would be yes.
Consider Matthew 26:53-56 (54) But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?" (55) At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. (56) But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled”.
3) A special request: “The National Geographic suggested that Judas did it as a special request by Jesus. “Lost Gospel Revealed; Says Jesus Asked Judas to Betray Him. … Hidden for 1,700 years, the Gospel of Judas now offers a surprising take on Christianity’s most reviled man”. (ByStefan Lovgren). https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/lost-gospel-judas-revealed-jesus-archaeology
GUILT AND REGRET
Did Jesus wash Judas’s feet at the Lord’s Supper?
1) Clean and not clean: Yes He did, but Jesus said not all of them were clean (John 13:1 - 7). Jesus washed Judas’s feet but Judas was not clean. IT was at the table of the Lord’s Supper where Judas left to go and betray Jesus when Jesus said, “what you do now, do quickly (John 13:27).
2) Guilty but not suspected: If the other eleven disciples were aware of what was going on then they would never have let Judas leave the room! They thought that Judas was leaving to go and buy something for the Feast or to give something to the poor (John 13:28).
Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss to the mob that was sent by the chief priests and the elders of the people as they were armed with swords and clubs (Matthew 26:47-49 NIV).
1) A faulty motive with a kiss: Notice how subtle the kiss was when Judas used something customarily as innocent kiss which normally was a way of greeting someone but in this case was used to betray someone.
2) Guilt and regret: Judas later saw that he had betrayed an innocent man, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior into the hands of bloodthirsty and corrupt officials.
3) Regret: When things did not go as he had hoped, and seeing that Jesus was condemned to die, he wanted to give the blood money (thirty pieces of silver) back. But, they refused.
4) Renege: Perhaps, Judas was trying to renege in hopes that it would make them acquit Jesus of the false charges that they had against Him and let Him go. Instead, the chief priest and the elders of the people told Judas, that his betrayal of an innocent man was his own responsibility (Matthew 27:4). In other words, "that's your sin, not ours" they seemed to be saying.
5) Blood money rejected: On a side note, it is interesting to point out how they divorced themselves from their guilt in the participation of that same sin that they said was strictly "his responsibility." Yet, they were hypocritical when they took the "blood money" and bought a potter's field, when they knew that they could not use it in the treasury because it was "blood money". That confession in itself was one in which they incriminated themselves with, even though they divorced themselves from the guilt by association.
6) The Angel option: Keep in mind that Jesus had angels on standby for immediate deliverance. All he had to do was say the word. “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Matthew 26:53). In the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, a legion was about six thousand men. https://www.biblestudytools.com › dictionary › legion Twelve legions of six thousand men = seventy two thousand angels.
7) Detachment: John’s Gospel tells that there was a detachment “meaning 600 Roman soldiers who showed up to arrest Jesus” (Leander Keck. gen. ed. The New Interpreter’s Bible. Volume 8. Eugene Boring. “The Gospel of Matthew”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, p. 477). You talk about overkill! Can you imagine what would have happened to those 600 Roman soldiers against a heavenly army of 72,000 angels?
8) Why these things?: As someone has said it very well: “Why must? but because it was, 1. So decreed by God. 2. Foretold by the prophets; every particular of Christ’s sufferings, even to their very spitting in his face. 3. Prefigured in the daily morning and evening sacrifice; this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning of the world. A necessity then there was of our Saviour’s suffering. Not a necessity of coaction (for he died freely and voluntartly), but of immutability and infallibility, for the former reasons and respects”. (John Trapp’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments). It was all too much for Judas because he went and hung himself.
All of these things happened so that the scriptures would be fulfilled and we could be saved!
