Betrayed With a Kiss: Luke 22:47-48

I greatly admire Michael Card as a writer, teacher, and musician. Therefore it's probably not unusual that my mind should immediately be driven to the lyrics in his song, "Why", in considering the manner in which our Lord was betrayed:

"Why did it have to be a friend who chose to betray the Lord?
and why did he use a kiss to show them, that's not what a kiss is for?
Only a friend can betray a friend, a stranger has nothing to gain.
and only a friend comes close enough to ever cause so much pain."

Luke 22:47 & 48 records that Judas led the arresting party to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and then, in a previously devised plan, gave him a kiss. Oh how bitter that kiss must have been when Jesus received it. It was a custom for one to greet a teacher with a kiss, but this was very different. Here was one of the twelve, who had seen the Lord through the years of His ministry, and had shared in the revelation of His Deity as well as the mundane and ordinary activities of His life, turning Him over to the mob.

We've all been "betrayed" by someone close to us at some point in our lives. We all know the gut-wrenching feeling that our stomachs experience at the moment that we realize the betrayal. It is just so hard to believe that someone we care for so much has treated us worse than a stranger. Even though Jesus, knowing all things, had already confronted Judas about his imminent mutiny at the last supper, that didn't cushion the pain. Obviously, it was part of the prophesied drama that would lead to the Cross and to our redemption, but it was the act that effectively sealed the fate of Judas.

We read in Matthew 27:3-5 that after Judas saw that Jesus was condemned to die, he tried to return his reward, the silver coins. We're led to understand that the Greek used in that passage reveals that Judas had "feelings of regret and remorse" (ESV Study Bible notes), but not the change of heart that comes with repentance. Judas couldn't change their minds. He would have had to deal with the guilt the rest of his years, so he took his own life. Another friend, Peter, also betrayed Him, but the difference between Judas and Peter is that Peter was truly repentant, and was restored.

It is a sobering thing to consider what Judas did. It should cause us to pause and consider, could we ever have committed that act? Thanks to God that it is not just our repentance but even first the desire to repent that is put in our hearts by God Himself: "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (Eph 1:4). But for the grace of God, in our hearts we could be just like Judas...

by Rich Cromwell