Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
On Passover night in Gethsemane Judas carried out his agreed sign by coming close to Jesus as a familiar friend and kissing Him repeatedly while urging the priests and mob to seize Him and hold Him fast. They acted literally, laying violent hands on Him and binding firmly the hands that had only done good. He gave the kiss and the urgent command because he fully expected Jesus to manifest divine power and escape from His captors as He had escaped enemies before. Behind that expectation greed had become the ruling motive of his life, so that stung by reproof he sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Jesus did not refuse the traitor's kiss but met it with sorrowful forbearance, calling him Friend and asking whether he betrayed the Son of man with a kiss, to rouse his conscience and give an example of love and pity without parallel.
The Kiss in Gethsemane
On Passover night Jesus in company with His disciples slowly made His way to the garden of Gethsemane, a place He had often visited for meditation and prayer. It was under a broad and full moon shining from a cloudless sky, while the city of pilgrims' tents was hushed into silence. The betrayal and arrest there is also told in Mark 14:32-50, Luke 22:39-53 and John 18:1-12, after His long agony in conflict with satanic agencies striving to divorce Him from God. A band of men and soldiers carrying staves and spears came to seize Him there.
That night was His last agony, and He came strangely silent and exceeding sorrowful even unto death under the weight of guilt He must bear. Upon Him who knew no sin was laid the iniquity of fallen humanity, and throughout His life He had walked in the light of God's presence, but now He seemed shut out from God's sustaining presence and numbered with the transgressors. Sin appeared so dreadful to Him and God's wrath against transgression so terrible that He was tempted to fear it would shut Him out forever from His Father's love. The disciples marked the change, never before seeing Him so utterly sad and silent, with a strange sadness that deepened as He proceeded. His form swayed as if about to fall, every step was taken with labored effort and groaning aloud as if suffering under the pressure of a terrible burden, twice He was supported by His companions or He would have fallen to the earth, while great drops of blood came from His skin.
Judas remembered his agreed and arranged part and carried it out, coming close to Jesus as a familiar friend. He greeted Him, took His hand, and kissed Him repeatedly with expressions of love while pretending sympathy. He gave the traitor's kiss boldly and defiantly with no disposition to relent, because honor, fidelity and human tenderness had utterly forsaken him. It was an apparently friendly gesture concealing murderous intent, a Judas hand offered as a signal to identify Jesus for arrest.
He had told the priests, elders, temple police and mob who came to Gethsemane that the one he kissed was Jesus, urging them to seize Him and hold Him fast and securely. The captors acted on his words literally, laying violent hands on Jesus and binding firmly the hands that had only done good, to prevent escape or rescue. Their cords caused Him much pain.
The kiss begins the trial and death that followed, for Christ was seized at midnight in Gethsemane after betrayal and taken away at night for judgment. He was dragged from one tribunal to another amid mockery and violence, as though He were a murderer. After He took the cup and drank it, the betrayal handed Him over to be abused in person, crowned with thorns pressed into His temples, nailed through hands and feet, and hung on the cross with two thieves.
Judas's Motives and Remorse
Judas gave the kiss as the agreed signal because he fully expected Jesus to manifest divine power and escape from His captors. He had seen Jesus escape His enemies many times before and believed He would deliver Himself now. He expected Jesus to keep the mob helpless and prostrate, to flash forth His brightness and glory to extinguish them, and to pass out unharmed from their midst. Angels already surrounded Jesus, and the throng falling to the ground had full evidence that He was the power of God.
He meant the betrayal as a test that would settle doubts about Jesus, for if Jesus were the Messiah the people would rally to Him and proclaim Him king. He expected that victory to magnify his own name, to give him credit for placing the king on David's throne, and to secure him a position next to Christ in the new kingdom. He added the urgent command to seize Jesus and hold Him fast and securely so that when blamed he could defend himself and deny responsibility by pointing to that instruction. He schemed in this way to keep the bribe money for his own use while leaving the priests cheated of their prisoner, for he had no thought Jesus would permit Himself to be taken but believed Jesus would not allow Himself to be taken and would deliver Himself from His enemies.
Greed had become the ruling motive of his life, and love of money perverting his nobler nature made him a fit agent of Satan. Stung by the implied rebuke of his covetous spirit when Mary anointed Jesus with costly ointment, he yielded to the tempter and sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. His betrayal illustrates how selfish gain and dishonest business practices sacrifice Christ. He despised afterward the covetousness Jesus had reproved which had tempted him to sell the Saviour for a few pieces of silver.
He had been accepted among the disciples despite his faults so that Christ's teaching and example could help him recognize and correct them, with the same opportunity as the others to learn. Instead he cherished sin and indulged it and invited Satan's temptations, and when his faults were reproved he resisted reproof and became angry. He cherished an unchecked spirit of superiority and desire for authority, followed a path of unchecked temptation, and remained a hearer and not a doer who failed to value and follow the light received. Honor, fidelity and human tenderness utterly forsook him because he gave himself up to Satan's control and had no power to resist him.
From the betrayal onward he did not lose sight of the Saviour but kept Jesus in sight, eagerly expecting Him to surprise His enemies by appearing as the Son of God and setting at naught their plots and power. Only when Jesus willingly submitted and meekly suffered abuse, trial, condemnation and death did he realize he had betrayed his Master to death and sold his divine Master to shame and death. Then his heart smote him as he remembered how kind and considerate Jesus had ever been to him. He fell into hopeless remorse and anguish that ended in hanging himself.
Christ's Forbearance and Warning
Jesus did not refuse or reject the traitor's kiss but met it with a trembling, sorrowful voice, calling him Friend and asking why he had come and whether he betrayed the Son of man with a kiss. Judas had remembered his agreed part and carried it out by coming close as a familiar friend, taking His hand, greeting Him and kissing Him repeatedly with pretended sympathy and expressions of love, boldly and defiantly with no disposition to relent. Honor, fidelity and human tenderness had utterly forsaken him because he had given himself to Satan's control with no power to resist. The appeal was meant to rouse the betrayer's conscience and touch his stubborn heart, and in receiving the kiss with gentleness and patience and forbearance and love and pity without parallel, still longing to save Judas from ruin, He gives an example to His followers.
The boldness of Judas in touching Jesus restored the courage of the awed mob, so that they then laid violent hands on Jesus and bound the hands that had only done good. The betrayal and arrest became a severe test of the disciples' faith, the crisis for which He had strengthened His faithful followers beforehand because He knew the trial awaiting them. His presence in the earlier crisis helped them face the ordeal of His betrayal, condemnation and crucifixion, in contrast to the fickleness of those who had once followed Him.
Judas had been accepted among the disciples despite his faults so that teaching and example could help him recognize and correct them, yet he cherished sin, indulged it and invited Satan's temptations, and when reproved became angry and resisted reproof until he was led to betray his Master. The kiss therefore illustrates how those who profess godliness may betray people who reprove them for their good when opportunity arises. It serves as a pattern for professed believers who accuse their fellow believers and for self-confident people who reject correction and persist in their own way, for by doing so they serve Satan as Judas did even if unknowingly, show Satan's spirit, and may betray Christ rather than surrender their will.
His betrayal was the result of hearing teachings without doing them and failing to value and follow the light received, though he had the same opportunity as the other disciples to learn. Though connected with Jesus and given the benefit of His teaching and example, he did not let his character be shaped by it but remained a hearer and not a doer, showing that failure to be changed invites betrayal. He stands as the betrayer in contrast to following Christ's example, and his apparently friendly gesture is a Judas hand concealing murderous intent. A kiss of Christ given in love and peace and reconciliation is not betrayal, and God is pleased when divine joy and praise and thanksgiving proceed from the lips of those who so kiss Him.
After taking the cup and drinking it He was handed over by betrayal to be taken, abused in person, crowned with thorns pressed into His temples, nailed through hands and feet, and hung on the cross with two thieves. While suffering on the cross with pierced hands and passing through death, He accepted the thief who acknowledged Him in His humiliation, pardoned his sins, and promised to be with Him that day in paradise.
On Passover night in Gethsemane Judas carried out his agreed sign by coming close to Jesus as a familiar friend and kissing Him repeatedly while urging the priests and mob to seize Him and hold Him fast. They acted literally, laying violent hands on Him and binding firmly the hands that had only done good. He gave the kiss and the urgent command because he fully expected Jesus to manifest divine power and escape from His captors as He had escaped enemies before. Behind that expectation greed had become the ruling motive of his life, so that stung by reproof he sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Jesus did not refuse the traitor's kiss but met it with sorrowful forbearance, calling him Friend and asking whether he betrayed the Son of man with a kiss, to rouse his conscience and give an example of love and pity without parallel.
The Kiss in Gethsemane
On Passover night Jesus in company with His disciples slowly made His way to the garden of Gethsemane, a place He had often visited for meditation and prayer. It was under a broad and full moon shining from a cloudless sky, while the city of pilgrims' tents was hushed into silence. The betrayal and arrest there is also told in Mark 14:32-50, Luke 22:39-53 and John 18:1-12, after His long agony in conflict with satanic agencies striving to divorce Him from God. A band of men and soldiers carrying staves and spears came to seize Him there.
That night was His last agony, and He came strangely silent and exceeding sorrowful even unto death under the weight of guilt He must bear. Upon Him who knew no sin was laid the iniquity of fallen humanity, and throughout His life He had walked in the light of God's presence, but now He seemed shut out from God's sustaining presence and numbered with the transgressors. Sin appeared so dreadful to Him and God's wrath against transgression so terrible that He was tempted to fear it would shut Him out forever from His Father's love. The disciples marked the change, never before seeing Him so utterly sad and silent, with a strange sadness that deepened as He proceeded. His form swayed as if about to fall, every step was taken with labored effort and groaning aloud as if suffering under the pressure of a terrible burden, twice He was supported by His companions or He would have fallen to the earth, while great drops of blood came from His skin.
Judas remembered his agreed and arranged part and carried it out, coming close to Jesus as a familiar friend. He greeted Him, took His hand, and kissed Him repeatedly with expressions of love while pretending sympathy. He gave the traitor's kiss boldly and defiantly with no disposition to relent, because honor, fidelity and human tenderness had utterly forsaken him. It was an apparently friendly gesture concealing murderous intent, a Judas hand offered as a signal to identify Jesus for arrest.
He had told the priests, elders, temple police and mob who came to Gethsemane that the one he kissed was Jesus, urging them to seize Him and hold Him fast and securely. The captors acted on his words literally, laying violent hands on Jesus and binding firmly the hands that had only done good, to prevent escape or rescue. Their cords caused Him much pain.
The kiss begins the trial and death that followed, for Christ was seized at midnight in Gethsemane after betrayal and taken away at night for judgment. He was dragged from one tribunal to another amid mockery and violence, as though He were a murderer. After He took the cup and drank it, the betrayal handed Him over to be abused in person, crowned with thorns pressed into His temples, nailed through hands and feet, and hung on the cross with two thieves.
Judas's Motives and Remorse
Judas gave the kiss as the agreed signal because he fully expected Jesus to manifest divine power and escape from His captors. He had seen Jesus escape His enemies many times before and believed He would deliver Himself now. He expected Jesus to keep the mob helpless and prostrate, to flash forth His brightness and glory to extinguish them, and to pass out unharmed from their midst. Angels already surrounded Jesus, and the throng falling to the ground had full evidence that He was the power of God.
He meant the betrayal as a test that would settle doubts about Jesus, for if Jesus were the Messiah the people would rally to Him and proclaim Him king. He expected that victory to magnify his own name, to give him credit for placing the king on David's throne, and to secure him a position next to Christ in the new kingdom. He added the urgent command to seize Jesus and hold Him fast and securely so that when blamed he could defend himself and deny responsibility by pointing to that instruction. He schemed in this way to keep the bribe money for his own use while leaving the priests cheated of their prisoner, for he had no thought Jesus would permit Himself to be taken but believed Jesus would not allow Himself to be taken and would deliver Himself from His enemies.
Greed had become the ruling motive of his life, and love of money perverting his nobler nature made him a fit agent of Satan. Stung by the implied rebuke of his covetous spirit when Mary anointed Jesus with costly ointment, he yielded to the tempter and sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. His betrayal illustrates how selfish gain and dishonest business practices sacrifice Christ. He despised afterward the covetousness Jesus had reproved which had tempted him to sell the Saviour for a few pieces of silver.
He had been accepted among the disciples despite his faults so that Christ's teaching and example could help him recognize and correct them, with the same opportunity as the others to learn. Instead he cherished sin and indulged it and invited Satan's temptations, and when his faults were reproved he resisted reproof and became angry. He cherished an unchecked spirit of superiority and desire for authority, followed a path of unchecked temptation, and remained a hearer and not a doer who failed to value and follow the light received. Honor, fidelity and human tenderness utterly forsook him because he gave himself up to Satan's control and had no power to resist him.
From the betrayal onward he did not lose sight of the Saviour but kept Jesus in sight, eagerly expecting Him to surprise His enemies by appearing as the Son of God and setting at naught their plots and power. Only when Jesus willingly submitted and meekly suffered abuse, trial, condemnation and death did he realize he had betrayed his Master to death and sold his divine Master to shame and death. Then his heart smote him as he remembered how kind and considerate Jesus had ever been to him. He fell into hopeless remorse and anguish that ended in hanging himself.
Christ's Forbearance and Warning
Jesus did not refuse or reject the traitor's kiss but met it with a trembling, sorrowful voice, calling him Friend and asking why he had come and whether he betrayed the Son of man with a kiss. Judas had remembered his agreed part and carried it out by coming close as a familiar friend, taking His hand, greeting Him and kissing Him repeatedly with pretended sympathy and expressions of love, boldly and defiantly with no disposition to relent. Honor, fidelity and human tenderness had utterly forsaken him because he had given himself to Satan's control with no power to resist. The appeal was meant to rouse the betrayer's conscience and touch his stubborn heart, and in receiving the kiss with gentleness and patience and forbearance and love and pity without parallel, still longing to save Judas from ruin, He gives an example to His followers.
The boldness of Judas in touching Jesus restored the courage of the awed mob, so that they then laid violent hands on Jesus and bound the hands that had only done good. The betrayal and arrest became a severe test of the disciples' faith, the crisis for which He had strengthened His faithful followers beforehand because He knew the trial awaiting them. His presence in the earlier crisis helped them face the ordeal of His betrayal, condemnation and crucifixion, in contrast to the fickleness of those who had once followed Him.
Judas had been accepted among the disciples despite his faults so that teaching and example could help him recognize and correct them, yet he cherished sin, indulged it and invited Satan's temptations, and when reproved became angry and resisted reproof until he was led to betray his Master. The kiss therefore illustrates how those who profess godliness may betray people who reprove them for their good when opportunity arises. It serves as a pattern for professed believers who accuse their fellow believers and for self-confident people who reject correction and persist in their own way, for by doing so they serve Satan as Judas did even if unknowingly, show Satan's spirit, and may betray Christ rather than surrender their will.
His betrayal was the result of hearing teachings without doing them and failing to value and follow the light received, though he had the same opportunity as the other disciples to learn. Though connected with Jesus and given the benefit of His teaching and example, he did not let his character be shaped by it but remained a hearer and not a doer, showing that failure to be changed invites betrayal. He stands as the betrayer in contrast to following Christ's example, and his apparently friendly gesture is a Judas hand concealing murderous intent. A kiss of Christ given in love and peace and reconciliation is not betrayal, and God is pleased when divine joy and praise and thanksgiving proceed from the lips of those who so kiss Him.
After taking the cup and drinking it He was handed over by betrayal to be taken, abused in person, crowned with thorns pressed into His temples, nailed through hands and feet, and hung on the cross with two thieves. While suffering on the cross with pierced hands and passing through death, He accepted the thief who acknowledged Him in His humiliation, pardoned his sins, and promised to be with Him that day in paradise.