Gentle Reader,
“Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. …
And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'” – Luke 22:3-5, 47-48
I’m always amazed that Jesus didn’t end Judas’ life right there in the garden. Though He knew the betrayal was coming, though He knew that this was the good and perfect plan, how His heart must have ached. Broken, even. For here was Judas, a man who’d walked with Jesus for three years. They’d talked together. Prayed together. Shared meals.
Yet Judas never really walked with Jesus. He’d never really been there at all.
Nothing Jesus said or did sunk in.
The kiss of peace, the kiss of friendship, turned into the kiss of death.
And Jesus allowed it.
For all entries in the Jesus: 31 Days with the Savior series, go here.