True selected chapters cropped - Flipbook - Page 10
36). While Jesus was talking to his sleepy disciples, Judas the
betrayer approached, bringing others with him to arrest Jesus.
Betrayed with a kiss
Judas was aware that people knew Jesus well enough by sight, but
he felt that in the dim light of the garden they might need a definite
indication of who they were to arrest. He chose the most terrible
of signs – a kiss. It was customary to greet a rabbi with a kiss; it
was a sign of respect and affection for a well-loved teacher. When
Judas says, ‘The one I kiss is the man,’ he uses the word philein,
which is the ordinary word for kiss. But when it is written that
he kissed Jesus, the words used are kata philein. The word kata
indicates intensity. Kata philein means to kiss as a lover kisses
his beloved. The sign of betrayal was not a mere form of kiss of
respectful greeting. It was a lover’s kiss. Jesus was betrayed by one
of his chosen and closest friends (Mark 14:43–46).
The arresting mob came from the chief priests, the scribes and the
elders – the three sections of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious
council. They marched Jesus away to the high priest. The disciples’
nerve cracked. They could not face it. They were afraid that they
too would share the fate being prepared for Jesus. They all left him
and ran away. But throughout all this Jesus displays serenity, for
the struggle in the garden is over and now there is the peace of a
man who knows that he is following the will of God.
Who is Jesus?
The religious trial before Caiaphas, the high priest, was grossly
unfair and unlawful. Many people were brought in to tell lies
about Jesus, but their statements did not agree and the high priest
became exasperated. He asked the question that he knew would
get the result he wanted – a sentence of death. ‘Are you the Christ,
the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am.’ That was it.
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