Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Mark 14:43-45 begins the account of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And immediately, while He yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. And he that betrayed Him had given a token, saying, ‘Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He; take Him away safely.’ And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to Him, and saith, ‘Master, Master’; and kissed Him.” A kiss on the cheek remains a customary means of greeting in the Middle East between members of the same sex. However, the Greek word translated “kissed” is in its intensive form, indicating a prolonged rather than a polite or perfunctory kiss. It looks like an expression of genuine affection, but it is merely “a token,” a signal to the soldiers to seize the Savior. Judas wants to make sure that they get the right man; thus he holds his lips to Jesus’ cheek for some seconds. A kiss has been called “a contraction of the mouth due to the enlargement of the heart” – not here. It becomes instead a weapon of betrayal. Still, Jesus says to Judas, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” (Matthew 26:30), for our Lord does not change: He is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). He continues to extend His grace to this traitor. Sadly, beyond any and all words, Judas remains intransigent in his unreasonable rebellion. May we recoil from his settled hate and instead settle into the longsuffering love of our Lord.