May 8
Judges 12-14
Psalm 57:1-6
Proverbs 13:5-6
Luke 22:47-71
The Kiss of Death
“While He was still speaking, suddenly a mob was there, and one of the twelve named Judas was leading them. He came near Jesus to kiss Him, but Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’” Luke 22:47-48 HCSB
It has always struck me as odd that Jesus picked Judas to be one of the disciples. Jesus knew how this was going to end before He ever picked Judas. He knew when and how He was going to die, that Judas was going to betray Him, and that Judas was not a true believer, and yet He welcomed him into His inner circle. We don’t know a lot about Judas. There are specific details about the other disciples including their former professions, where they came from and how Jesus called them to follow Him. But we don’t know anything about Judas other than his name, Judas Iscariot. Jesus had hundreds of followers, so Judas may have just tagged along as one of the crowd. He may have begun following Jesus because he thought Jesus was going to be an earthly ruler who would overthrow Rome and defeat the enemies of the Jews. At some point, however, he came into the inner circle because we find the list of disciples in Matthew 10, Mark 3 and Luke 6 and Judas is listed in all three.
The only other mention of Judas is found in John 12:1-8. When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume, Judas complained that she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor. John tells us that Judas was not concerned about the poor, “but because he was a thief; as keeper of the moneybag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.” (NIV) Jesus knew that Judas was not trustworthy and yet He let him oversee the money. In Matthew 6:21, Jesus taught that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (NIV) Judas’ treasure was found in money. Even though he looked like a disciple, hung around with disciples, spoke like a disciple, and acted like a disciple, his heart was far from God. He could fool others, but he did not fool Jesus.
Judas could have just told the religious leaders what they wanted to know, given them the testimony they needed and let them go arrest Him. They had all seen Him preaching and teaching. They all knew exactly who He was. They didn’t need Judas to point Him out to them. But Judas went with them and arranged to use a kiss on the cheek as His method of identifying Him. He used the most intimate means of communication between personal friends to be his method of betrayal. He wanted Jesus to know he was the betrayer. At some point he figured out that Jesus was not going to do what he expected. His true intentions became clear. His motives were selfish. Instead of following Jesus because He was God’s Son and the promised Messiah, he was following Him for what he thought Jesus could do for him. He thought Jesus was going to set up an earthly kingdom and Judas wanted to be a part of the power and prestige. When he realized this wasn’t going to happen, he didn’t even try to hide his betrayal. He turned on Jesus and handed Him over to be killed. Judas is evidence that you can look like you’ve got it all together, you can go to church and hear good sermons, and you can say all the right things, but if your heart is far from God, it doesn’t do any good at all. Christianity is not about following rules and being good. Christianity is about having a personal relationship with Jesus and loving Him for who He is and not what He can do for you. You can fool others, but you can’t fool Jesus. He knows the true intentions of your heart.
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