A kiss - so simple an act, yet it conveys so many messages.  Always, those messages are ones of fondness or caring aren't they?  A mother kisses away the hurt of a scraped knee, a friend kisses one who has returned after a time away and a kiss from your true love can take your breath away.  Yet in today's passage, a kiss brought the ultimate betrayal.  Judas used the closeness of his friendship for personal gain, and deep assault to the relationship he had with his Lord.  For it only could have been a friend who could get close enough to deliver that kiss of betrayal.  If Judas had been a stranger, the betrayal would have meant nothing.

For me, this part of the story in the week leading up to the Cross and Resurrection, I find comfort.  I have been deeply wounded by people I trusted, and when I turned in prayer to Jesus, I know from this passage (and Peter’s denial) that He gets it.  He understands the pain of being betrayed by one he held so closely to his heart.  Jesus, fully God and fully human, felt the sting that only can be delivered by broken intimate relationships.  Know this – the One who suffered Death and conquered the grave – knows the pain you feel, and wants to walk with you through it.  Will you let him?


Written by Diana Loach, the Director of Children’s Ministries at St. Giles Kingsway Presbyterian Church in Etobicoke, Ontario.