And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
In the garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal, Judas came to Jesus as a familiar friend and turned a greeting of affection into the agreed signal that identified Him to the armed band for arrest. He honored Him as Master with his lips while selling Him for thirty pieces of silver, kissing Him repeatedly to deliver Him to mockery, trial, and crucifixion. Jesus did not resist or answer with anger, but met the kiss with sorrow and asked why he had come, longing even then to rouse his conscience and giving an example of gentleness and forbearance without parallel. The bold touch emboldened the awed mob to lay violent hands on Jesus and bind Him, though He showed He could have delivered Himself and instead submitted meekly. His course warns that avarice and religious appearance without inward change can lead to betraying Christ for gain and giving oneself to Satan's control unless converted.
Gethsemane Night Setting
The kiss belongs to the betrayal and arrest of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on Passover night. He went there slowly in company with His disciples to the place where He had often gone for meditation and prayer, now with a heart full of sorrow. He seemed shut out from the light of God's sustaining presence, numbered with transgressors and bearing the guilt of fallen humanity, with the iniquity of all laid upon Him who knew no sin. He felt the terrible wrath of God against transgression, exceeding sorrowful even unto death. The broad full Passover moon shone from a cloudless sky, and the city of pilgrims' tents was hushed into silence.
It came after His long agony in the garden in conflict with satanic agencies striving to separate Him from God, a conflict so terrible that great drops of blood came from the pores of His skin and moistened the ground, in which He would not yield. He had taken neither food nor drink since the Passover supper with His disciples, and right after He took the cup and drank it the betrayal followed. It was the midnight seizure in Gethsemane that begins the mockery and violence and insult and reproach He endured in humiliation. The betrayal by one of His followers, one of His professed disciples, is part of His sufferings and rejection and death for humanity. He was arrested there by a band of men and soldiers with staves and spears.
Immediately after the betrayal His disciples all forsook Him and fled, and He was seized at night and handed over to those who opposed Him. He was carried from tribunal to tribunal toward crucifixion, taken to Annas, then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate, then to Herod and again to Pilate, through insult upon insult and mockery upon mockery. He was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, which could not execute without confirmation by Pilate, so He was brought before Pilate to be legally condemned, delivered into the hands of Caiaphas and Pilate. He bore it all without failing, with dignity, speaking no word but what tended to glorify God, though abused and twice tortured by the scourge. He was crowned with thorns pressed into His temples, nailed through hands and feet, and hung between two thieves. This betrayal, with the agony in Gethsemane and the crucifixion, formed a severe trial of the disciples' faith, yet because they had already seen how quickly followers could turn away they had learned not to rest faith on the world's changing approval.
Treacherous Kiss Endured
Judas carried out his agreed part by coming close to Jesus as a familiar friend with his customary greeting, hailing Him as Master while intending betrayal. He took His hand and kissed Him, and kissed Him repeatedly, acting as though he sympathized with Him in His danger. What was ordinarily a greeting of affection and an expression of love was thus turned into a treacherous sign. By that kiss he identified Jesus to the armed band that had come with staves and spears to arrest Him.
Jesus did not reject or refuse the kiss, did not resist it, and did not answer with anger. He met it with a voice trembling in sorrow, asking, Friend, wherefore art thou come, and confronting him with, Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss. It was a most touching appeal meant to rouse the betrayer's conscience and touch his stubborn heart, for even at that last moment He longed to save him. In so receiving the kiss He gave to those present and to all others an example of gentleness, forbearance, love, pity and patience without parallel.
The mob stood surprised and awed, but the boldness of Judas in touching Jesus emboldened them to recover assurance and courage. They then laid violent hands on Jesus, seized Him roughly, and bound the hands that had always been employed in doing good. In connection with the arrest Jesus displayed His divine power, showing that He could deliver Himself from their hands if He chose. Yet He submitted meekly to arrest and trial instead of escaping by that power.
Judas Course Warns Believers
The kiss exposes a course driven by avarice made the ruling motive of life, selling the divine Master for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave, through covetousness that had been reproved. Unchecked temptation joined a spirit of superiority and a desire to control and exercise authority over fellow disciples. Though given the same opportunity as the other disciples to learn from teaching and example and to recognize and correct faults, he only heard without putting into practice or letting character be shaped. He cherished sin, resented reproof, and yielded to evil, keeping a selfish divided heart that loved worldly praise and gain and refused to give up the world or entrust eternal interests to Christ. At last honor, fidelity and human tenderness utterly forsook him, and he gave himself to Satan's control with no power left to resist.
He assumed Jesus would prevent Himself from being taken by displaying divine power and setting at naught all plots and power, an assumption that did not excuse the betrayal. He did not lose sight of Jesus but eagerly expected Him to surprise His enemies by appearing before them as the Son of God. When Jesus instead submitted meekly to abuse and let Himself be tried and condemned to death, Judas grasped the full guilt of selling his Master to shame and death. He remembered how kind and considerate Jesus had ever been to him, despised his covetousness, and was smitten in heart and overcome with remorse and anguish.
Religious appearance without inward religion can thus lead to sacrificing Christ for dishonest gain. Those who follow the same unchecked path risk becoming enemies of God's work unless they are converted. People professing godliness and righteousness may betray the Lord and those who lovingly confront their sins. The betrayal is like that of professed believers who act as accusers of the brethren and thereby serve Satan and manifest his spirit even unknowingly. As betrayer Judas stands opposite earnestly following Christ, and his apparently friendly treacherous hand is like a friendly hand extended to President McKinley to conceal harmful intent. In contrast, those who truly belong to God also draw near in love and peace and reconciliation with divine joy and praise and thanksgiving from their lips that pleases God and fills the church with brightness in cheerful service rather than mourning on the narrow path to eternal life.
In the garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal, Judas came to Jesus as a familiar friend and turned a greeting of affection into the agreed signal that identified Him to the armed band for arrest. He honored Him as Master with his lips while selling Him for thirty pieces of silver, kissing Him repeatedly to deliver Him to mockery, trial, and crucifixion. Jesus did not resist or answer with anger, but met the kiss with sorrow and asked why he had come, longing even then to rouse his conscience and giving an example of gentleness and forbearance without parallel. The bold touch emboldened the awed mob to lay violent hands on Jesus and bind Him, though He showed He could have delivered Himself and instead submitted meekly. His course warns that avarice and religious appearance without inward change can lead to betraying Christ for gain and giving oneself to Satan's control unless converted.
Gethsemane Night Setting
The kiss belongs to the betrayal and arrest of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on Passover night. He went there slowly in company with His disciples to the place where He had often gone for meditation and prayer, now with a heart full of sorrow. He seemed shut out from the light of God's sustaining presence, numbered with transgressors and bearing the guilt of fallen humanity, with the iniquity of all laid upon Him who knew no sin. He felt the terrible wrath of God against transgression, exceeding sorrowful even unto death. The broad full Passover moon shone from a cloudless sky, and the city of pilgrims' tents was hushed into silence.
It came after His long agony in the garden in conflict with satanic agencies striving to separate Him from God, a conflict so terrible that great drops of blood came from the pores of His skin and moistened the ground, in which He would not yield. He had taken neither food nor drink since the Passover supper with His disciples, and right after He took the cup and drank it the betrayal followed. It was the midnight seizure in Gethsemane that begins the mockery and violence and insult and reproach He endured in humiliation. The betrayal by one of His followers, one of His professed disciples, is part of His sufferings and rejection and death for humanity. He was arrested there by a band of men and soldiers with staves and spears.
Immediately after the betrayal His disciples all forsook Him and fled, and He was seized at night and handed over to those who opposed Him. He was carried from tribunal to tribunal toward crucifixion, taken to Annas, then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate, then to Herod and again to Pilate, through insult upon insult and mockery upon mockery. He was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, which could not execute without confirmation by Pilate, so He was brought before Pilate to be legally condemned, delivered into the hands of Caiaphas and Pilate. He bore it all without failing, with dignity, speaking no word but what tended to glorify God, though abused and twice tortured by the scourge. He was crowned with thorns pressed into His temples, nailed through hands and feet, and hung between two thieves. This betrayal, with the agony in Gethsemane and the crucifixion, formed a severe trial of the disciples' faith, yet because they had already seen how quickly followers could turn away they had learned not to rest faith on the world's changing approval.
Treacherous Kiss Endured
Judas carried out his agreed part by coming close to Jesus as a familiar friend with his customary greeting, hailing Him as Master while intending betrayal. He took His hand and kissed Him, and kissed Him repeatedly, acting as though he sympathized with Him in His danger. What was ordinarily a greeting of affection and an expression of love was thus turned into a treacherous sign. By that kiss he identified Jesus to the armed band that had come with staves and spears to arrest Him.
Jesus did not reject or refuse the kiss, did not resist it, and did not answer with anger. He met it with a voice trembling in sorrow, asking, Friend, wherefore art thou come, and confronting him with, Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss. It was a most touching appeal meant to rouse the betrayer's conscience and touch his stubborn heart, for even at that last moment He longed to save him. In so receiving the kiss He gave to those present and to all others an example of gentleness, forbearance, love, pity and patience without parallel.
The mob stood surprised and awed, but the boldness of Judas in touching Jesus emboldened them to recover assurance and courage. They then laid violent hands on Jesus, seized Him roughly, and bound the hands that had always been employed in doing good. In connection with the arrest Jesus displayed His divine power, showing that He could deliver Himself from their hands if He chose. Yet He submitted meekly to arrest and trial instead of escaping by that power.
Judas Course Warns Believers
The kiss exposes a course driven by avarice made the ruling motive of life, selling the divine Master for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave, through covetousness that had been reproved. Unchecked temptation joined a spirit of superiority and a desire to control and exercise authority over fellow disciples. Though given the same opportunity as the other disciples to learn from teaching and example and to recognize and correct faults, he only heard without putting into practice or letting character be shaped. He cherished sin, resented reproof, and yielded to evil, keeping a selfish divided heart that loved worldly praise and gain and refused to give up the world or entrust eternal interests to Christ. At last honor, fidelity and human tenderness utterly forsook him, and he gave himself to Satan's control with no power left to resist.
He assumed Jesus would prevent Himself from being taken by displaying divine power and setting at naught all plots and power, an assumption that did not excuse the betrayal. He did not lose sight of Jesus but eagerly expected Him to surprise His enemies by appearing before them as the Son of God. When Jesus instead submitted meekly to abuse and let Himself be tried and condemned to death, Judas grasped the full guilt of selling his Master to shame and death. He remembered how kind and considerate Jesus had ever been to him, despised his covetousness, and was smitten in heart and overcome with remorse and anguish.
Religious appearance without inward religion can thus lead to sacrificing Christ for dishonest gain. Those who follow the same unchecked path risk becoming enemies of God's work unless they are converted. People professing godliness and righteousness may betray the Lord and those who lovingly confront their sins. The betrayal is like that of professed believers who act as accusers of the brethren and thereby serve Satan and manifest his spirit even unknowingly. As betrayer Judas stands opposite earnestly following Christ, and his apparently friendly treacherous hand is like a friendly hand extended to President McKinley to conceal harmful intent. In contrast, those who truly belong to God also draw near in love and peace and reconciliation with divine joy and praise and thanksgiving from their lips that pleases God and fills the church with brightness in cheerful service rather than mourning on the narrow path to eternal life.