Title: Kiss of Betrayal
Contents
20010225 "The Kiss of Betrayal" <Luke 22:47-53>
Doesn't that sound like a movie title? The kiss of betrayal! I was worried about myself. Also, since I decided on the title like this, I thought about kissing a bit. What is the difference between a kiss and a kiss and a kiss? In my own opinion, a kiss is a joke for children, a kiss is love between a man and a woman, and a kiss on the cheek, at least in the time of the Bible, seems to be a polite greeting with a sense of courtesy and trust. However, the scene in which Judas Iscariot is now kissing Jesus of this betrayal is the content of today's text.
If you look more closely, the place seems to be somewhere in the valley of the hill of Olives, and the time is probably around midnight. The disciples are waking up from their sleep, rubbing their eyes because they are tired, and Jesus is telling them to pray so that they will not fall into temptation. At the same time, people are shouting from the other side, with torches and clubs and swords in their hands. Perhaps the disciples were startled, and seeing them approached, Judas took the lead, and in verse 52, the chief priests and the officers of the temple-probably a garrison, and those who followed are listed as elders.
Now, when Jesus was saying this to Judas, the disciples woke up and understood the situation. And he said, "Lord, shall we strike with a sword?" There was no time for the Lord to answer, and a sword flashed, and there was a whistling and squeaking sound... Isn't it like some kind of martial arts novel? But on our side, we couldn't use the sword properly and only blew one of our ears. In other Gospels, the one wielding the sword is Peter. In a way, this Peter seems to be a man of great courage and loyalty, but in reality, no matter how much you look at it, it doesn't seem like that. In fact, the people who have come to arrest Jesus now are the chief priests and elders, but if they leave, there will be at least a few dozen... Right now, there are 11 disciples of Jesus and only two swords. If there is a sword fight or a hand fight here, there is absolutely no chance of winning. No matter how I look at it, I can only think of it as believing in the power of Jesus and swinging a sword once.
I can understand why God doesn't give me such amazing powers. Because if he had given him that kind of ability, he might have already killed several people. Sometimes, I see events as if God is not on the side of the church and the saints, but is on the side of the world and the forces that persecute the church. If you read the text, it makes sense. Now let me tell you a few stories. In front of our church, there is a bar and a shaman's house. The feeling of wanting such houses to disappear is very earnest. But that's not all that simple. There may be many people who are jealous of our church and oppose it. However, there are others who do the opposite.
1) I don't know if it was last December or January, but it is said that there was a riot in the middle of the night once. It is said that an uncle grabbed and dragged him to the alley next to a drunken man, climbed up a low wall, and said he was going to die by falling inside our church and handed it over to the police. 2) Just yesterday, there was a water leak in the back of the church building and the ice froze to make an ice wall, which melted and fell and cut the gas cylinder line underneath. There were several children in the English class on the first floor, but the housekeeper and the evangelist said that they were away for a while to look after the children. The children were startled by the smell of gas, and it is said that an uncle went back and closed the valve. 3) When it snowed a lot last week, I had a shortened class because of the snow in the sun and came early, but there was no place to park my car in front of the house, so I parked it in front of the building next to it, and then I fell into a snow pit and got stuck. Master Jang, the postman, and the uncle of the shaman's house next door digged the snow hard with a shovel and pushed it, so we barely got out.
If the disciples had just stared at Jesus when he was arrested, how miserable and self-defeating would they be? "What am I doing... My teacher is being arrested and I can't do anything..." But the Lord says. "Be patient with this." This patience at this time is not a state of being patient while proudly demonstrating one's perseverance. It's really about being patient with yourself in a humble way. But more important than this is that God's will is done and God's will is done.
The last words of Jesus to those who came to arrest him are found in verses 52 through 53. Eventually, you will be arrested, so why are you saying this? Because this is a declaration. Let's hear it this way. "Did you come with knives and sticks as if you were a robber? You would rather catch a tiger with a slingshot. Do you really think you can catch me with that? You really came to catch me in the middle of the night like this because you were afraid of the crowd, let alone your ability to catch me. These children of darkness, who can really do nothing in broad daylight! But, according to God's will, now is the time to wield that power as you please. That power is the power of darkness, which Heavenly Father has given you. will." This is the world we live in today. There are still many situations in which there are many kisses of betrayal toward the Lord, kisses that sell Jesus, and churches that are arrogant for loyalty and honor without knowing the will of God and yet mistakenly believe that it is faith.
And even if such churches and saints abound and receive criticism and finger pointing from the world, what is truly amazing is that the Lord died on the cross for such churches and us. So this story is recorded in the story of the Lord's death. We are the object of the Lord's boundless love, and the promise of "I will be with you even to the end of the world." No matter how much we think about it, the salvation we have received is because of the Lord's incomprehensible love. Do not forget that the beginning of our faith is melted in the presence of the Lord's love. Amen.