There are two kisses that changed the course of history. Mark Lowry summed up the first in his song, “Mary Did You Know?” He thoughtfully and beautifully penned the words,
“Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.”
I just can’t get over that visual. Of holding and caressing the newborn face of Jesus and also knowing that “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.” (Hebrews 1) But another kiss to that Holy face was a catalyst beyond compare. “Jesus asked him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’ ” Luke 22:48
One kiss was proof of the prophecy fulfilled that she was holding in her arms. The other kiss was also a prophecy fulfilled. But it makes us so uncomfortable. Many people try to reason through the betrayal of Judas. Some say he acted out of disappointment when he realized Jesus was not the warrior king to overthrow Rome. (Yet.) Some say he was jealous of Jesus, others say he was a plant from the beginning.
But Jesus picked Judas. And He loved him and walked with him for three years, teaching and exhorting. Is it possible, even remotely, that Judas betrayed the Son of God for sheer money? Is it so difficult for us to believe that we would trade the Truth of God for cash in our pockets?
This is a question to reflect on. It may hit closer to home than we think. Do we gamble, trade, bank on a sure thing jingling in our hand, more than the God in our midst? Perhaps our answer makes the redemption story all the greater. For He loves us still.
Enjoy this song that really speaks to this kind of love. “And I don’t know what to do with a love like that…”
And the problem is this
We were bought with a kiss
But the cheek still turned
Even when it wasn’t hit
And I don’t know
What to do with a love like that
And I don’t know
How to be a love like that
When all the love in the world
Is right here among us
And hatred too
And so we must choose
What our hands will do
Where there is pain
Let there be grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Help them be brave
Where there is misery
Bring expectancy
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Something
And the problem it seems
Is with you and me
Not the Love who came
To repair everything
And I don’t know
What to do with a love like that
And I don’t know
How to be a love like that
When all the love in the world
Is right here among us
And hatred too
And so we must choose
What our hands will do
Where there is pain
Let us bring grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Let us be brave
Where there is misery
Let us bring them relief
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Oh surely we can change
Something
Oh, the world’s about to change
The whole world’s about to change