The Kiss Of Life

The Kiss of Life

Luke 22:1-6

Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill Him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray Him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

After Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the last time to celebrate the Passover, He had several encounters with the chief priests and scribes. These meetings ended badly for the priests; they were both embarrassed and put down at the same time. They also saw Jesus as a threat to their authority and position in the Temple. They did not just want to show the people Jesus was not to be listened to; they wanted to get rid of Him. The priests had already conspired to have Jesus killed at the earliest opportunity. However, the people were in support of Jesus and any show of force against Jesus would have caused the crowd to stand with Jesus and might have brought the full weight of the Roman guards down upon the Jews, something the priests did not want. They just had to wait for that perfect opportunity to present itself.

As told in our reading today, and as every Christian knows, it was Judas Iscariot who presented the opportunity for the priests to bring their conspiracy to completion. We are told Satan entered into Judas and from that Judas went to the priests and promised to betray Jesus at the first chance He would be away from the crowds. In the Gospel of Matthew we are told the priests and Judas covenanted, or bargained, for the payment of thirty pieces of silver. This is what the priests wanted; a way to quietly take Jesus out of the picture without the people gathered around Him. And the person who was going to hand Jesus over to them was one of Jesus’ own, one of the Twelve He personally picked out of all those who followed Him for special instructions and work. Judas would know exactly when Jesus was going to be alone, when they would be able to arrest Him.

During the Passover meal, Judas left to tell the priests Jesus would be away from crowds later that night in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus told His disciple what he was to do, do quickly. The other disciples did not understand what was going on, but both Jesus and Judas knew exactly what was being talked about. Jesus instituted what is now known as The Lord’s Supper during this time. Knowing what was to come, Jesus took Peter, John, and James, the three disciples He had set aside from the rest of the twelve, to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was here that Jesus asked the Father three times to have the prophesized events, to have that cup, pass. But at the each of the three prayers, Jesus ended them with “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt”. “Don’t stop this because I have asked, but because there is another way”. But there wasn’t another way. The suffering Jesus had to endure and succumb to was required for the redemption of His creation. Jesus’ reason to coming to earth, being born to a woman, experiencing life as one of His creation, to the choosing of twelve men who were set apart from every other follower, His three years of teaching and preaching the Scriptures, was coming to an end. In less than 24 hours, He would stand four different trials, one before the Sanhedrin, one before Pilate, one before Herod, and the last before Pilate again. He would be betrayed, disserted, denied, ridiculed, beaten, flogged, and crucified. He would endure the full wraith of the Father, because He had claimed the sins of all people as His own; both death and separation from the Father; hell.

After each of the three prayers, Jesus came to His disciples only to find them asleep. As Jesus was speaking to the disciples after the last prayer, when Judas came up and addressed Jesus as Rabboni, Master, and kissed Him. Judas used the terms he had always used, terms once used in love and respect; and kissed Jesus. That kiss, that token of respect and love, was used to betray the Lord over to His enemies. Judas gave Jesus a kiss of death. Judas came to the Garden with a large group of people, as many as could be assembled at such a late hour. The people in the crowd came with staves and swords in anticipation of some conflict. But Jesus surrendered Himself peacefully with only one incident; Peter cut the ear off one of the priest’s servants, a man named Malchus, which Jesus healed before being lead away.