Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

• Luke 22:47-48

Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ send greetings.

• Romans 16:16

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

• 2 Corinthians 13:12

“It is so heartbreaking that Christ, who is the teacher of love, is betrayed – with a kiss.  Such is the nature of sin.”

• Søren Kierkegaard, Provocations (from Thoughts that Radically Cure)

“A kiss from a student to his master was a sign of respect. The kiss also represented acceptance and reverence. In the early church, the ‘holy kiss’ was a sign used to greet others, impart blessing, and express Christian unity (Ro 16:16; 2Co 13:12; 1Th 5:26). The fact that Judas, a disciple, would betray his Master (Jesus) with a kiss heightened the atrocity.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Ann L. Bowman, Gospels & Acts contributor)

I used a Kierkegaard quote in the Philosophy writing this morning.  Why not relate another quote?

When this comes out, it will be the Tuesday after Easter, so the betrayal of Judas might still be on people’s minds.

For one thing, a “holy kiss” is a symbol of respect.  This is a type of love, in a way.  You can admire someone for some quality that they have, or you can simply respect the position or office that they hold.

Jesus taught a Godly love, which transcends respect or admiration.  But it does not touch on romantic love at all.

While the Woman’s Bible speaks of this being a practice in the first century, I find it odd that Paul tells people of Rome, Corinth, and Thessalonica to greet each other with a “holy kiss.”  But the churches in Asia are not told to do so.  Is this tradition part of a European tradition?  Today, there are people in Europe and Asia who greet with a kiss.  The traditions vary, and it can get confusing when travelling from a right cheek kiss tradition to a left cheek kiss tradition.

But no romantic love interpretation should be mentioned here.

If you had this person at your side, trusting him with the money, for three years, it would be an insulting blow to use a kiss, only rendered to someone who you admire and respect.  It not only makes a mockery of the tradition.  It makes a mockery of all the teaching that Jesus gave Judas.

But remember what is said of Judas.  Satan entered him.  It was Satan mocking Jesus.  Judas was a willing participant.  The sin was still on Judas, but Satan made it seem so ironic that Judas could not resist.

Then, once the deed was done, Judas realized what had happened.  There would be no salvation for Judas.  He had heard all those parables and he still had no clue what they meant.  So, why did Judas hang himself?  Was it his shame?  Or was it the thought that he still did not know what Jesus’ teachings meant?

People try to find similar teaching in everything on earth, but unless you surrender to Jesus, that type of teaching makes no sense.  Did Judas betray Jesus to feel something that he could never feel unless Jesus was in his heart?  That leaves so many to great despair even today.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.