The Traitor's Kiss

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2015 · 24 May 2015

We are again at Matthew 26:47-50 as we continue to study the last days of Jesus on earth. This particular portion is one that generates a tremendous amount of emotion and anger on the one hand, and real love on the other; of a desire for revenge on the one hand, and yet complete trust in the plan of God on the other. This passage is about the act of betrayal and the arrest of Jesus Christ. The kiss of Judas is a despicable and repulsive act and so there is a certain amount of anger and vengeance.

But Christ is perfectly calm in the midst of this event. And we now come to that text in which He is face to face with Judas the traitor. Jesus is betrayed by one of His own disciples, and arrested to be executed on a cross. And as we go through this narrative, we see the drama of the scene, the tragedy of it, as well as the triumph. And so we want to examine the attack of the crowd, the kiss of the traitor, the defeat of the disciples, and the triumph of the Savior.

Let us begin with verse 47, “While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.” Matthew, Mark and Luke all say that while Jesus was speaking, the mob arrived. And so what was Jesus saying? And it is while He is awakening the eleven disciples from their sleep, asking them to move forward, then we pick up verse 47, it all is happening so suddenly, so fast.

Matthew says, “Judas, one of the twelve.” The Bible writers are rather kind in the way they speak about Judas. They could have said, “Judas, that wretched, vile traitor,” but they don’t. They are much more restrained than other extra-biblical writers in history. Many apocryphal books talk about Judas with tremendous disdain and hatred. But when you look at the Bible writers, there’s none of that. All they ever say about this man is that he was one of the twelve.

And that statement, rather than carrying just pure disdain, has built into it a kind of profound mystery. It’s almost as if they are saying, “It is impossible to believe it, but this man who betrayed Jesus was one of the twelve.” Judas knew Jesus more intimately than any other human beings on the face of the earth and still did this. And so rather than statements of repulsion, this is a statement of shock – “one of the twelve.”

It is early Friday morning when Judas arrives. He had left the disciples long before the Lord’s Supper was even instituted. And upon leaving, we learn that he went out and consummated his agreement with the Jewish leaders. He said, “How much will you give me if I give you Jesus?” So he got them all together and said, “This is the moment, you have to act with speed because Jesus is away from the crowds. He is also possessed by Satan, so he no longer is in control, for it says in John 13:27, “Satan entered into Judas.”

And they arrive and Judas wants compensation for what he believes are years of poverty, following a Messiah who is not going to bring a Kingdom that he had hoped for. He had to meet with the Jewish leaders. And then they had to get permission from the Romans and it was likely that he had a meeting with Pilate himself. In Matthew 27:62-63 it says, “Now on the next day, the chief priests and the Pharisees came together to Pilate saying, ‘Sir, we remember that the deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again.” They don’t identify Christ as the deceiver, so they must have had some prior conversation with Pilate about this.

So they must have been able somehow to convince Pilate that this Jesus was a potential rebel, and that He was going to lead some kind of insurrection against Rome. And they did not want that to take place, since they had just finished putting one down. In Mark, 15:7 it says, “And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.” They see Jesus as another potential Barabbas and they better stop it before it got started.

And so on that pretense, the Roman soldiers join the Jewish leaders under the leadership of Judas, and they proceed to the garden to take Jesus captive. The Romans had brought in extra troops for the Passover, and to see a group of Jewish leaders all together wouldn’t be strange, because this was a holy season. And so it seemed the moment was right. It was so in the mind of Judas, and in the mind of Satan, and in the mind of the religious leaders, and in the mind of the Romans, and it was also in the plan of God, for this all was being done by the foreknowledge of God, it says in Acts 2.

Now with Judas, came a large crowd, with “chief priests and elders of the people.” The elders were representatives from the people who ruled and it would be made up of Sadducees and Pharisees. It is important to know that the Jewish leaders were behind all of this. In fact, in John 18:3 it says, “So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there.”

The high priest was there, because a little later we meet the servant of the high priest, who would be a very important person, the adjutant to the high priest, the highest religious office in the land. Now, in John 18:3, it says there was a band of soldiers which in the Roman army is one-tenth of a legion which is six hundred men. You add officers and servants and you have quite a large group.

Luke 22:52 says there were “the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders,” so that adds another group which would be the temple police. And John says they came with lanterns and torches. But it was full moon since Passover was celebrated in the middle of the month when the night would be quite bright. So they came with lanterns and torches because they assumed they would have to chase Jesus out of a hiding place. So they came to take the rebel by force if need be, with several hundred men.

We also read in verse 47 that they also had swords and clubs. The word “sword” means a short sword, the kind carried by a Roman soldier for an arrest. They carried the large sword when they were going into an armed conflict with another army. And then you will notice that it says they carried clubs, like a police nightstick. That would be the regular weapon of the temple police. So the Jews were armed, and the Romans were armed as well.

Instead of welcoming the Son of God, instead of embracing the long-awaited Messiah, instead of falling at the feet of one who was to be worshipped as the living God, they sent a group of soldiers to arrest Him. This is a vivid illustration of the wickedness of the world. If you don’t think the world is wicked, then ask yourself how it can reject the most pure, and wonderful, and lovely person that ever walked on the earth?

First of all, their wickedness is manifest because they are unjust. Did they have a right to take Jesus Christ and kill Him? What crime had He done? And Pilate even later on in Luke 23:4 says, “I find no fault in this man.” And Pilate was a man educated in the law. Christ had done nothing wrong. There was no crime. They are just utterly unjust.

John 8:44 says, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning.” Their deeds against Jesus Christ have no relationship to truth, no relationship to fairness and to goodness. And not only is the world unjust, but the world is mindless. What did the soldiers in Rome have against Jesus Christ? Absolutely nothing. What did the priests have against Jesus? Nothing.

What did Jesus do? Did He heal the diseases of their people? Yes. Did He restore their people to spiritual life? Yes. Did He teach their people divine truth? Yes. But they are absolutely mindless. It just takes some perverted leaders to decide that Jesus ought to be killed, to stir up an entire population. They are as mindless as the people who followed Hitler. These leaders are moved to save their reputation, for the sake of preserving their place as spiritual leaders.

Oh, the world is like that today too. There are people across our nation who reject Jesus Christ in just as mindless a way as these did. People say to me, “Well, I can’t believe in Jesus Christ; I have been raised Jewish.” Well, if that’s your only reason, that’s as mindless as these people. You better consider the claims of Christ yourself. And there are people who say, “I can’t receive Jesus Christ; I just don’t buy any of that.” And my response is, “Well, you must have studied deeply into the life of Christ to come to such an astute conclusion.”

Then they say, “Well, I’m not sure the Bible is even true.” And then you simply ask them if they have read it, and they will confess that they really haven’t. They are not thinking, they follow the mob mentality, if the rest of the people around you reject Christ, do you just follow? Don’t be mindless; don’t become a victim of somebody else’s bitterness or emotion or rejection of Christ. Don’t you reject the Son of God because somebody else did. The world is mindless.

They are also cowards, do you really need hundreds of men with swords and clubs to take one person in the dark of night? A guilty conscience always makes a coward out of anybody. Wickedness always fears that it gets what it deserves. Do we read that any one of these people talked to Jesus, to find out whether He was indeed an insurrectionist? Cowards always come in big groups. They find protection in the horde. They are not about to confront truth, they always hide in the mob.

The wicked world is also profane. The world has absolutely no reverence for what is sacred. Every time we hear the word “Jesus” uttered out of the mouth of someone as a curse word, we see the profanity of the world. Every time God is mocked, or Christ is mocked, or every time God’s Word, or God’s way, or God’s will is disdained, every time Christ is rejected, it is the same profanity exhibited as in the garden, where the world profanes the most sacred thing in the universe.

There are so many competing religions everywhere and the name of Jesus is now mentioned in many false religions and the meaning of who Jesus is and what He stands for is so often distorted in so many ways. Liberal theologian opinions and evolution is dominating YouTube and many other social media outlets and public opinion gives very little credence to what the Bible says.

You see, the world is still the same. They are still coming with their unjust, mindless, cowardly, profane evil attitudes. The attack of the crowd begins with the kiss of the traitor. Verse 48-49, “Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi and he kissed him.” There was nothing about Jesus to distinguish Him from any other human being. They needed a sign, so there would be no mistake. So Judas came up with the sign. Of all the things that he could have done, he chose a kiss, in his twisted, deranged thinking.

Kissing was offered from a pupil to a beloved teacher as a sign of respect and love. It was only to be offered to a teacher when the teacher offered it first. It was very brash to walk up to a teacher and offer a kiss, unless it had been invited by his own first embrace. But a kiss was a sign of affection, of intimacy. Inferiors kissed the back of the hand. If above the level of a servant, they might be able to kiss the palm of the hand, in that day. Slaves would kiss the feet. And those who would come in to receive mercy from an angry monarch would also kiss the feet, begging for pardon.

So a kiss on the cheek was a sign of warm love, intimacy, unselfish love, so that the kiss of Judas then becomes the most despicable act of all acts. He could have kissed the hand of Jesus, but he chose to feign affection for Christ, not only to provide a sign, but thinking in his stupidity to deceive Christ and the other disciples. So he says, “The one I will kiss is the man; this is feigned innocence. It is a weak attempt to conceal his real character and treachery. The delusion of thinking that he could deceive the Son of God is beyond description.

Proverbs 27:6 says, “The kisses of an enemy are profuse.” It is part of an enemy’s deceit to overdo it. The hatred of the priests would have been enough. It is inconceivable that a man could return such treachery for divine love. And may we add, Judas is no less guilty because Jesus accomplished redemption for all who believe in Him; that does not mitigate his guilt at all. That only overrides his evil, it does not eliminate it.

And in the midst of all of this, Luke 22:48 records, “Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And in Mark 14:45 we read that Judas went ahead, and said, “Teacher, teacher,” and kept on kissing Him. This profanes a holy act, because in Psalm 2 it says, “Kiss the Son.” He was acting like one who grieves. Maybe the disciples will think he has come to warn Him, so he is separated a little from the crowd by now, and feigned sorrow and love. And Jesus endures it.

And in verse 50, “Jesus said to him, ‘Fellow, do what you came to do.” In the literal Greek it is not “friend.” You might find differing translations, but the text is not saying “friend”, philos, it is the word hetairos which means “fellow.” Jesus did not call Judas a friend anymore. He used it in John 15, when He said to His disciples, “I call you friends.” Judas had left. This is not a friend. Judas is associated still with Christ but he is not a friend.

Everything was resolved in Jesus heart, He was moving to the cross. He endured those kisses of the betrayer, and simply said, “Do what you came to do.” That statement was the farewell of Jesus to the son of perdition. That was it. And we know that Judas, who is in hell at this moment, must have that ringing in his ears, and will have that for all eternity, “Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? (Luke 22:48). Do what you are here to do.”

Judas is no solitary betrayer, there are Judases in every age. There are Judases in many churches who have come there and feigned love for Christ, and feigned adoration of Christ, but they are deceitful, and they are hypocritical, and they are in it for what they receive, a certain amount of salved conscience, a little peace of mind, a certain reputation that they desire to gain, a certain sense of self-satisfaction. But they are hypocrites, and they are in it for themselves.

And so the reality for each one of us is that we will also find ourselves in the garden there. We either stand with the wicked, unjust, mindless, cowardly multitude and we stand there with a false disciple or we will find ourselves with the disciples and with the triumphant Savior. The disciples ran and were weak but when the Holy Spirit came they became strong. Where do you stand? That’s the ultimate question. If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you are not worshiping Him, we invite you to do that this day. Let us pray.