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44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand." 47 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him." 49 Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. 50 But Jesus said to him, "Friend, why have you come?" Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. ~ Matthew 26:44-50
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 26 where we find three sleepy disciples, Peter and James and John. It was early Friday morning and the Lord Jesus was about to be betrayed with a kiss by one of His disciples. The betrayal by Judas of the Lord Jesus was so dramatic, it appears in all four Gospels. When the Lord Jesus found Peter, James and John asleep the first time, He implored them to pray that they not enter into temptation. Prayer strengthens us. When we lay our hearts before the Lord, we are tuned to His activity in our lives, which in turn, strengthens our faith. When we look for Him more and more, we discover that He truly is the only One who is capable of being our Savior.
In v.44-46 of today's passage we read, "44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.'"
Prayer is the yearning of the awakened soul. But, even though we have been awakened to God, we still find it much easier to feed the flesh than it is to feed the Spirit. Prayer is one of several ways to feed the Spirit of God who came to live within us when we first believed on the Lord Jesus. It is the nature of our flesh to be weak. And, the flesh is our default mode even though we are born again. In the hour of testing, if we are not given to prayer, we will discover the great strength of the flesh over us. It is through prayer that we access the strength of God in our lives. This is the major lesson that bursts forth in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Lord Jesus knew that the disciples were weak at battling the flesh which is always in opposition to the desires of God for us. The Lord knew the intense desire of the disciples was to love Him the best they could. He knows that our hearts are desperate to bring Him glory due to the fact that we have been made alive to Him through His Spirit. God is not surprised that in our battle against the flesh we most often lose. The disciples did not understand that in the hour of testing we will more often than not fail the test. In our hour of testing, the house built upon the sand will collapse. It cannot stand the test.
In v.47-49 of today's passage we read, "47 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, 'Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.' 49 Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, 'Greetings, Rabbi!' and kissed Him."
In the distance the Lord could see the flames of the torches of the soldiers and the religious leaders who were moving up the slope of the Mount of Olives. The large crowd was led by someone familiar with the nightly habits of the Lord Jesus. Knowing that His hour to be arrested, falsely accused, illegally put on trial, sentenced, and crucified, the Lord Jesus braced Himself. He wouldn't be controlled by these men, He was bent on being yielded to His Father. The idea that God had to forsake God is so foreign to us! Yet, the Son of God was never more pleasing to the Father than at this hour. He voluntarily laid down His life for our salvation. This is the intensity of the love of God for us.
While the Lord Jesus was still speaking with His disciples, Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. We read in Proverbs 27:6, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." It was customary in that day for disciples to greet their teachers with a respectful embrace and a kiss on the cheek. This kind of embrace was a sign of close intimacy and warm affection between a Rabbi and his student. Judas really overstepped the protocol that morning. It was appropriate in their culture for the Rabbi to initiate the embrace, but Judas had an agenda. He used the embrace and the kiss to identify the Lord Jesus for the arresting guards.
Ironically, the name Judas means "praise." In Gethsemane, the Lord Jesus told His disciples to watch and to pray. The design of these two commands was to get His followers to look for hope. I have found that this hope often appears in my life in the form of an intrusion or an anomaly, something that looks as if it doesn’t belong. I have found that those moments of greatest pain and anxiety have served me best in coming to know the heart of my Savior. In order to have this angle, we must be formed by God's Word, so that when these intruders come, we view them from His vantage point. The challenge to our faith is to believe God's promises especially when we find ourselves in a place where darkness seems to reign. God knows we often need the reassurance that the story doesn’t end in a place like Golgotha. In our darkest moments God is always faithful to give us glimmers of hope through the darkness.
In v.50 of today's passage we read, "But Jesus said to him, 'Friend, why have you come?' Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him."
It was through a kiss along with a strong embrace that Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus. Slaves kiss feet. Inferiors kiss hands. Equals kiss cheeks. Judas saw himself as an equal to the Lord Jesus and that is what makes his betrayal of the Lord most repulsive. And, Judas did not hesitate to do his dirty work. Judas was included in the group of disciples, yet, he was not a believer. Proximity to the teachings and miracles of the Lord Jesus did not change Judas’ heart or secure his salvation, nor did his occasional good works. The offer of grace had been extended to Judas for over three years. Sadly, the opportunity for Judas to inherit the kingdom of heaven and walk with the Lord Jesus in eternity, he rejected. Rather than embracing the Lord Jesus from the inside out, Judas feigned love on the outside. Judas did this for three years, sealing his fate with a final kiss.
There are those who try to blame God for Judas' actions, but, God cannot be held accountable for the choice Judas made. It wasn't like He made Judas do what He did. Judas was motivated by greed which is what brought sin into existence in the first place. God knew in advance that Judas would betray the Lord Jesus, and then, He told us what Judas was going to do. This just underscores the fact that we all have the choice to believe in the Lord Jesus or not. And, that was the choice Judas had and he chose to not believe. When we believe in the Lord, we will choose to be defined by Him. And, we will know that we are being defined by Him when we obey Him.
