Saint Matthew - Chapter 26
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| Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss? J-J Tissot |
And he that betrayed him, gave them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he, hold him fast.
Now he that betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He: hold him fast. Lest He escape, as He did at other times. “And lead Him away carefully,” adds S. Mark. For Judas was afraid lest Christ should escape by changing His shape, and that He should thus lose the thirty pieces of silver, which were not as yet given, but only promised.
Gave them a sign. That the Roman soldiers might know him. For it was night. And perhaps, as some moderns suggest, from His likeness to S. James the Less, His kinsman.
I shall kiss. Origen mentions a tradition that Christ had two countenances, one natural, the other assumed at will, as at His transfiguration, and that Judas gave this sign for fear Christ should alter His appearance, so as not to be recognised. But this is a gratuitous assumption, and not to the point, for Judas was not present at the Transfiguration; and even had he been there, he might reasonably fear that Christ might render Himself invisible, as He knew He had done at other times. The true reason is as given above.
[49] Et confestim accedens ad Jesum, dixit : Ave Rabbi. Et osculatus est eum.
And forthwith coming to Jesus, he said: Hail, Rabbi. And he kissed him.
And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed Him. Judas knew from Christ’s words at the Last Supper that he and his treachery were known to Christ; but yet, in order to hide it from the other Apostles, he pretends to give Christ the usual mark of friendship and reverence. It was the ancient mode of salutation. The Apostles probably saluted Christ in this manner, when returning back to Him from some other place. The early Christians also used to salute each other in the same way (see Tert. de Orat., and 1 Cor. 16:20). But Judas most wickedly misused this token of friendship for the purpose of betrayal, being persuaded (says S. Chrysostom) that Christ in His gentleness would not reject his kiss, and that if He rejected it, the sign would yet have been given.
S. Victor of Antioch says, “The unhappy man gave the kiss of peace to Him against whom he was laying deadly snares.” “Giving,” says pseudo-Jerome, “the sign of the kiss with the poison of deceit.” Moreover, though Christ felt deeply, and was much pained at His betrayal by Judas, yet He refused not his kiss, and gave him a loving kiss in return.
1. “That He might not seem to shrink from treachery” (S. Ambrose in Luke 21:4, 5), but willingly to embrace it, and even greater indignities, for our sake.
2. To soften and pierce the heart of Judas (S. Ambrose, ibid.); and
3. To teach us to love our enemies and those whom we know would rage against us (S. Hilary). For Christ hated not, but loved the traitor, and grieved more at his sin than at His own betrayal, and accordingly strove to lead him to repentance. Just as the spark of fire is elicited from the steel, so was Christ’s latent love elicited by His blows and sufferings. His love was pre-eminent through the whole of His Passion.
[50] Dixitque illi Jesus : Amice, ad quid venisti? Tunc accesserunt, et manus injecerunt in Jesum, et tenuerunt eum.
And Jesus said to him: Friend, whereto art thou come? Then they came up, and laid hands on Jesus, and held him.
And Jesus said unto Him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? If thou comest to betray Me, why givest thou Me this friendly kiss? But if thou comest as a friend, why bringest thou so many enemies against Me? “Thou kissest Me,” says S. Augustine, “and layest snares for Me. Thou pretendest to be a friend, though thou art a traitor.” Hence Luke adds that Christ said, “Judas, why betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” And such words, full of majesty and love, ought to have wounded his stony heart, unless he had hardened it like iron.
It was a wondrous instance of Christ’s gentleness and patience, that He tolerated Judas for three years, and deprived him not of his Apostolate, or disclosed to any one his sin. Teaching us to overcome our wrongs by love.
The Saints in this matter imitated Christ, S. Martin especially in his treatment of Brice, one of his clerks, who was constantly calumniating him. And when blamed for it, he said, “Christ bore with Judas the traitor, and should not I bear with Brice my calumniator?” By this gentleness he so won upon him, that he amended his ways, became a Saint, and succeeded S. Martin as Bishop, as S. Martin had foretold (Sulp. in Vit. S. Martin).
From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)
According to a tradition quoted by Saint Ignatius in a letter to Saint John the Evangelist, Saints James the Less, who was in the garden with Jesus, resembled Him so much that one might well have been taken for the other. It was, perhaps, for this reason that the Jews required of Judas that he should identify Jesus with a kiss. In my picture, Judas is seen rising on tiptoe to reach the face of his Master. Saint Peter, seeing the treacherous embrace and anticipating the scuffle which is about to ensue, asks the lord if he shall call the other eight Apostles, who have remained in the garden at some little distance off. The scene of the tragic incident is on the path between the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives.
Saint Mark
[44] Dederat autem traditor ejus signum eis, dicens : Quemcumque osculatus fuero, ipse est, tenete eum, et ducite caute.
And he that betrayed him, had given them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he; lay hold on him, and lead him away carefully.
[45] Et cum venisset, statim accedens ad eum, ait : Ave Rabbi : et osculatus est eum.
And when he was come, immediately going up to him, he saith: Hail, Rabbi; and he kissed him.
[46] At illi manus injecerunt in eum, et tenuerunt eum.
But they laid hands on him, and held him.
Saint Luke
[47] Adhuc eo loquente, ecce turba : et qui vocabatur Judas, unus de duodecim, antecedebat eos, et appropinquavit Jesu ut oscularetur eum.
As he was yet speaking, behold a multitude; and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near to Jesus, for to kiss him.
[48] Jesus autem dixit illi : Juda, osculo Filium hominis tradis?
And Jesus said to him: Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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