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While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.
Matt. 26:47-50
A kiss. Such an intimate greeting gets used as a signal of betrayal. I think that is always how betrayal feels; the more physically or emotionally intimate, the sharper the sense of pain when the betrayal happens. Betrayal does not only mean the loss of someone we value. We also lose a bit of ourselves.
As soon as we feel the threat of betrayal, we tend to shut down, to protect our selves from being completely annihilated by the betrayer. But notice what Jesus did. Judas greeted Jesus as "Rabbi," or "Teacher," and yet Jesus responded by calling Judas "Friend," which emphasizes even further how awful the betrayal was.
This world is not good to us, and we are not good to each other. I would be surprised if anyone reading this has never felt betrayed by someone they love. We live on that kind of planet. But we know that we have a God who also feels betrayal deeply--not only the betrayal of Judas on that night long ago, but the ways in which we daily betray His intimate love and sustenance of us.
Let us meditate on this, and be humbled.
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