PrintToday's "Moment with Mark" (104)
5 March, 2013
As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. "Teacher!" he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss. (Mark 14:45 NLT)
A word. An action. The betrayal, which was a long time in the planning is now, in a moment, completed.
[1] The word is "Teacher". I can't help but wonder if Judas ever considered Jesus to be more than a teacher. Did he ever call Jesus "Master"? Or was Jesus only a good man who taught high ideals - as He is considered to be today by many, many people? Did Judas participate in the missions when the disciples were sent out two by two? Did he witness the miracles that took place during those mission trips? Did he perform any of those miracles?
The truth is that if we restrict the Lord Jesus Christ to our human categories, that's all He will ever be to us. Call Him "teacher" and we will only ever accept Him as such. He will not be 'Master' nor will He be 'Lord'.
[2] The action is the kiss of greeting. In our culture it might have been a handshake. Whatever, it was the ultimate hypocrisy. It professed one thing while enacting another. It pretended friendship while it aided the enemy.
There are few things in life that are more upsetting than the person who betrays you behind your back but they feign loyalty to your face. It's so hard to receive the kiss of greeting from the person who has turned on you and betrayed you. It's bad enough to be deliberately misrepresented by a little-known acquaintance. It's worse when the betrayer turns out to be someone you know well and someone who should have known better. But the betrayal that does the most damage involves the person whom you have loved, trusted and in whom you have invested your life - one towards whom you have become vulnerable to such a degree that you have given them the wherewithal to hurt you deeply if they chose to do so.
And some do.
If my powers of observation over the last 40+ years are anything to go by, I know that among the readers of this article there will be those who carry the wounds of betrayal. I don't know the circumstances that became the scene of your betrayal but I do know this: the freedom you seek from the residual negative feelings that imprison you is only found through forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the key to your freedom.
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