For today, I'm going to take a break from my topic and share the meditation that I offered at last night's Maundy Thursday service at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.
While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?’ When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, ‘Lord, should we strike with the sword?’ Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him.Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!’
Luke 22:47-53
Of all things, Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss. So, let’s talk about kissing for a moment. There is a strong tradition of kissing in the Scriptures and the history of the church, believe it or not, and it's a bit of a muddle. There are times when kissing seems to be a biblical sign of reconciliation. One notable example is when Joseph finally reveals his true identity to his brothers. They had treated him abominably years before and even sold him into slavery. Later in the story, Joseph yields astounding power and could easily have taken vengeance on them. Instead there is a moment when he reveals his identity and, instead of demanding obeisance from them, he weeps and kisses them all. Those are the moments when a kiss is really a magnificent gesture of peace. Perhaps that is why no less than five times in the letters of the New Testament, the writer says to the church, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” In addition, there’s that wonderful metaphorical reference in the 85thpsalm that says, “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.” In that moment, a ‘kiss’ signifies joining two things that belong together. It’s lovely.
But, sometimes a kiss is not just a kiss. There is a brief moment in the book of II Samuel, when a general named Joab took a man named Amasa by the beard with his right hand – the fighting hand, a gesture of peace – to kiss him. What Amasa didn't realize is that in his left hand Joab was holding a sword, with which he killed him. Perhaps that story is what prompted the writer of proverbs to say with distrust, “Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
There are also some significant ways that a kiss is noted in the history of the church. An early church father, Justin Martyr, wrote that on Easter when newly baptized persons would take their place in the assembly, they would be welcomed with prayers and a kiss. And there is the story of St. Francis, who was told in a dream that the thing that made him shudder would be what he came to love. Shortly after, when he encountered a leper, he pushed past his initial revulsion, took the person’s hand, and kissed it. The next day he went to a leper hospital, gave a large sum of money, and kissed each person there on the hand. Francis demonstrates the power of a kiss to affirm someone’s dignity and value.
In Luke’s gospel, there are several references to kissing before we get to our story. There’s the story of a woman at a dinner where Jesus was a guest and who tearfully washes Jesus feet and kisses them over and over. It was a gesture that Jesus noted when the host of the dinner criticized the woman. Then Jesus says that when he entered the host did not wash his feet or give him a kiss. Likewise, in the story of the Prodigal Son, when the son returns after treating his father so shamefully, his father sees the boy coming along the road, chucks his dignity aside, hikes up his robe, and runs to welcome him with a kiss.
A kiss, then, can be a powerful symbol of welcome and intimacy. A kiss is a powerful symbol becauseit requires us to be vulnerable. It exposes us to one another – whether we’re talking about germs to which we are exposed or the flesh that we yield to the other or the feelings that we put out there that might not be reciprocated. But, the vulnerability of a kiss is also why it can be so misused in an act of subversion or betrayal. Nobody is so easy than to betray someone who is vulnerable and open.
And that is the part of the human story that we are called to confront when we hear the story of Judas. He does not only betray Jesus – either out of a love of money, or because Satan entered him, or out of a frustrated impatience of waiting on Jesus to be the king he was hoping he would be – Judas does not only betray Jesus. He does it with a kiss. And it is a kiss that is forever etched into our minds as the ultimate betrayal. Under the guise of peace, friendship, love, welcome, intimacy – Jesus is betrayed.
God have mercy.
Beautiful.
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