April 11 | Kiss
Read Mark 14:32-52
A kiss. Thanks to Judas, the kiss of betrayal is so common it is a cliché. It is the first mockery Jesus will endure in Mark’s crucifixion account.
It was not mentioned elsewhere that the disciples greeted Jesus with a kiss. To walk up to Jesus and give a showy kiss, to call him “Rabbi” as the brute squad surrounds is revolting. Almost grotesquely comedic. To use such an act of love and a term of respect to betray Jesus.
This is where it all seems to fall apart. The disciples fell asleep instead of staying awake with Him. Judas cruelly betrays Him. And the painful truth of verse 50:
And they all left Him and fled.
We cry, with the disciples in that upper room, “Not I! I would never!” But the sad truth is, we would. If we think we are more faithful than the 12 disciples, we are lying to ourselves. The fact is, it is in all of us. That’s the sobering part of this season of Lent. To look on those who participated in the death of Jesus and confess, “That could have been me.”
As we enter into Holy Week, let us spend a few moments in somber silence, confessing our own tendency toward sin, and our own vulnerability to abandon the ways of Jesus.