Luke 22:48

‘But Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of man with a kiss?” '

Jesus, however, knew better what was happening, and He responded by looking Judas firmly in the eye and asking him whether he really felt that such infamy could be justified. Surely even he must recognise that any other way would have been better than this? Did he not think that it portrayed a callousness which was extreme, even for him?

For while, once we think about it, his perfidy went along with Judas' presence, seemingly without a qualm, at Jesus' own Table, and with his ability to partake in the bread and wine, and receive the sop of friendship, as though he was one with them all. And it went along with his pretended surprise in the Upper Room that anyone should betray Jesus, (which he no doubt must have expressed in order to cover himself). Nevertheless the utter heartlessness that lay behind it cannot be overlooked. This was the mark of a man without a speck of decency, and it revealed, as little else could have done, what kind of a man he really was. It removes from our minds any suggestion that there was anything perversely noble about what he was doing. He was demonstrating that he was rotten to the core.

“Judas, do you betray the Son of man with a kiss?” The mention of Judas' name as though he were a friend stresses that Jesus was both hurt and at the same time seeking to somehow reach his heart, even though it was now a little too late. It was both a reproach and a plea. And His reference again to ‘the Son of Man' in this context (see Luke 22:22) emphasises that the use of the title is deliberate. In Daniel 7 also ‘the son of man' had been betrayed. But there at least it had been by the beasts, although no doubt with the assistance of traitors, but surely not by a friend? Was he aware that thereby he was betraying the whole suffering nation, and to all outward appearances removing their hope? It was a desperate attempt by Jesus at offering him a kind of redemption.