And while he was yet speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great crowd with swords and sticks from the chief priests and elders of the people.
The arrest breaks in while Jesus is still speaking to His disciples — and it comes through a friend. Everything here is a contradiction: a disciple leads the mob, the nation's religious leaders send it, and swords come out against a man who never struck anyone.
The mob does not catch Him off guard. One writer connects His calm to the time He had just spent with the Father.
Jesus was walking with God. It was not that He did not feel weakness. "Remain here, and watch with me" shows the weakness of the human condition fully felt... Then what is the next thing? When the trial comes, He has already gone through it with God! He presents Himself before them saying, "Whom do you seek?" as calmly as if He were going to work a miracle.
The verse names him by his place in the circle, not as an outsider. One writer shows how close a man can come to Christ and still fall.
To others he looked just like the other disciples. He had kept company with the Lord. He had been one of those sent out to preach the gospel and work miracles. But his conscience was never before God... Three years walking with Jesus, seeing His grace and love, must have moved Judas's affections. But his conscience had never been at work before God. So it is with many.
One writer weighs what Judas's fall proves about human nature.
It was a trial of man under new circumstances. Judas was a "close friend" (Ps. 41:9) of the Lord Jesus. He heard His gracious words, saw His miracles, and was probably allowed to work miracles himself in His name. And yet, as in every other trial of man, he fell. Judas is a solemn example of how far a person can come under the influence and power of Christianity, and still fall away from the faith.
One writer looks at how fast Judas arranged it all, and at who was driving him.
It seems that Judas made good use of his time since he left the room where the feast was kept. The Lord had said to him, knowing the thoughts of his dark heart, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Possessed by Satan, he had rushed out into the dark night, and, in feverish haste, led on by the evil one, he had succeeded in all his plans.
The two kinds of weapon point to two different groups in the crowd.
"The swords show that the Roman soldiers (John 18:3) were at the centre of this crowd. The clubs and so on show that the Jewish temple guard, and other fanatics of various kinds, were there too" (Lange). Jew and Gentile, men of different nations and different classes, were all ready to take part in the world's crowning sin — and they did.
The size of the force is out of all proportion to the man they came for.
What a scene! Gentiles and Jews come to lay their hands on the Prince of Life, the Lord of Glory, ready to commit the greatest sin. Now all the sinfulness of sin comes into view. But why such a great multitude and such precaution to capture one man, who was "gentle and lowly in heart"? What a testimony after all to His power, which they feared — and yet what blindness.
The Lord Himself named the hour these men were acting in.
Let me remind you of the terrible scene which began in the garden of Gethsemane. The Lord then said to those who came to arrest Him, "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53). They had come out with their swords and clubs to do deeds of darkness. But the Lord was serene and unaffected in the face of their threats and weapons. Neither He nor His servants would fight with worldly weapons. His kingdom was not part of this world of darkness.
Each person in the scene fails in a different way. One writer turns that list back on us.
The crowd showed their violence in their swords and clubs. Judas showed the basest treachery, betraying the Lord with a kiss. Peter sprang into sudden action in his own strength. All the disciples left Him and ran away. Violence, treachery, false and mistaken activity, fear and shame. Again we say, what a story! And such are we when brought face to face with the power of darkness, and out of communion with God.
- Their hour, His prayer. The arrest breaks in while He is still speaking. He had already gone through the trial with God, so He meets it calmly.
- Their hour begins in nearness. Judas is still called one of the twelve. Three years beside Jesus moved his affections but never touched his conscience.
- Their hour needs numbers. A great crowd came for one gentle man — a backhanded witness to the power they feared and could not see.
- Their hour unites the world. Roman swords and temple clubs came out together. Jew and Gentile shared in what commentators call the world's crowning sin.
- Their hour exposes everyone. Violence, treachery, rash action, fear, shame — that is what we are too, out of communion with God.
Now he that delivered him up had given them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, he it is seize him.
Judas does not just lead the armed crowd to Jesus. He hands them a code, and the code is a sign of affection. That one detail exposes both the heart of the traitor and the grace of the One who let Himself be taken.
The sign was fixed before the crowd ever set out, and Judas walked ahead of them to give it. Commentators note the strange confidence in this — Judas had watched Jesus read men's thoughts, yet still expected the trick to work.
Judas appears with a large crowd armed with swords and clubs. He had arranged the signal with them beforehand: he would kiss the Lord. So he goes ahead to carry out his cowardly plan. He had already seen the Lord read the very thoughts of men. But he has no faith at all, so he thinks he can deceive Him in this repulsive way. He acts as though the Lord would not know that his kiss was a kiss of betrayal.
The timing of it counted too.
Judas came to betray the Lord at just that time, and with such a sign. This seems to add greatly to the sorrow and anguish of our Saviour. At the same time it makes the awful hardness and cruelty of Judas' act more terrible than ever.
An older wording of the second half runs "hold him fast." One writer stops at the horror of that order, and traces the steps that brought Judas to it.
Even with Judas — the betrayer gave them a sign: "Whoever I kiss is the man; hold Him fast." It is terrible to think of Judas urging them to hold Him fast! In Judas you get the lust of money; you see a progress of sin. He was a thief and had the money bag... Then Satan tempts him to betray Him, I do not doubt with the idea that He would get free. Then after supper Satan enters into him, and he is hardened against all natural feeling. Even many a bad man would not betray his friend by a kiss.
Another writer takes up the same thought, and follows it to its end.
No doubt (it looks that way, at any rate) the devil had deceived Judas. He did not think they could ever hold Him fast. We have seen the Lord deliver Himself when His hour had not yet come. Judas found He did not deliver Himself. He was shocked, threw down the money in the temple, and went and hanged himself.
Of all possible signals, Judas chose the one that carries warmth.
A kiss is the sign of peace, the token of affection — but this was the kiss of a Judas! It is only by the grace of God that we believers are what we are. We ought to be very careful when we say we are not people like him.
The Lord accepts it. One writer sets this insult beside the spitting that follows.
Judas was absorbed with satisfying his own lust, and blind to the glory of Christ. So he dares not only to betray the Lord, but to do it with a kiss. A little later the enemies of the Lord will spit in His face. With equal grace the Lord submits to the awful hypocrisy of the betrayer who kisses Him, and to the insulting contempt of the enemies who spit on Him. Wonderful Saviour, who endured the hostility of sinners!
Judas lived close to Jesus. One writer says that closeness was no safeguard.
Nearness to Jesus only hardens in a terrible way, if faith is missing and the heart is not moved by His presence. Satan enters that heart to harden it further. He leads him to do the basest act imaginable — to betray a close companion while covering him with kisses. In the end he abandons him to despair in the presence of God.
One writer turns it on anyone whose religion is only outward.
Here was an apostle — a preacher of the gospel, a man who claimed much. Yet under that cover of religion lay a heart trained in greed. It had wide room for thirty pieces of silver, but not a corner for Jesus. What a case! What a picture! What a warning!... He preached the gospel, but he never knew it, never believed it, never felt it.
- Sign — Judas arranged the kiss in advance and went ahead of the armed crowd to give it. He thought he could deceive the One he had watched read men's thoughts.
- Grip — "hold him fast" was the traitor's own order. Writers suggest he never expected it to work, since he had seen the Lord slip free before.
- Kiss — the token of peace became the mark of betrayal. The Lord took it with the same grace as the spitting that followed.
- Hardening — closeness to Christ without faith does not protect. Here love of money hardened Judas into an act most bad men would refuse.
- Warning — religion without a heart for Christ ends where Judas ended. Only grace makes any believer different.
And immediately coming up to Jesus he said, Hail, Rabbi, and covered him with kisses.
Judas has agreed on a sign with the men coming to arrest Jesus. Now he steps forward to give it. He chose a greeting and a kiss — the two most ordinary marks of friendship. Commentators press hard on what it cost the Lord to receive them.
The word Judas used was not a neutral hello. Where the ESV has "Greetings," older English Bibles read "Hail." One writer explains the Greek behind both:
The word translated 'Hail' is Chaire, and it literally means 'Rejoice!' though it is true it was also commonly used as a greeting or farewell. But the true, literal meaning of the word is 'Rejoice!' "Rejoice, Master!" he said, "and kissed Him."
The word came from a man who had shared His company. One writer weighs what that cost the One who heard it:
What must the Holy One have suffered, when the one who had been in His loving company came up and said that word, "Oh, the Joy"? What suffering must have passed through that loving heart when He felt the vile lips of that one on His cheeks!
Judas addresses Him by a teacher's title. One writer sets that against how the other disciples spoke to Him:
It is striking that while John and his companions called the Saviour "Lord," the betrayer called Him "Rabbi" only (Matt. 26:25). There is no recorded instance of Judas ever giving Him the higher title. To truly acknowledge Jesus as Lord is the fruit of a work of the Holy Spirit within (1 Cor. 12:3).
Judas had promised one kiss. What he actually does is stronger, and a writer connects it with the Psalms:
And the word for "kissed Him" is not the word Judas used when he gave them this sign. Then he had used the word phileo, I love, or, I kiss. But he was eager to make sure they seized the One he had once followed. So he "covered Him with kisses": kata-phileo, a much stronger word. It is difficult for us to imagine anything more horrible than Judas' way of betraying his Master. And we know from the Psalms how keenly our Lord felt it. See, for example, Psalm 41:9: "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me."
Betrayal by an enemy is one thing. Something had to happen inside Judas before he could use a kiss as his weapon:
Then, after the supper, Satan entered into him, and he was hardened against all natural feeling. After all, many a bad man would not betray his friend with a kiss.
Christ does not pull away. One writer sets the kiss beside what the Lord accepts a little later:
Judas is absorbed with satisfying his own lust, and blind to the glory of Christ. So he dares not only to betray the Lord, but to do so with a kiss. A little later the enemies of the Lord will spit in His face. Yet with equal grace He submits to both: to the awful hypocrisy of the betrayer who kisses Him, and to the insulting contempt of enemies who spit on Him. Wonderful Saviour who endured the contradiction of sinners!
It is easy to read this scene and put ourselves on the other side of it. One writer will not allow that:
A kiss, the sign of peace — the token of affection, but this, the kiss of a Judas! It is only by the grace of God that we believers are what we are. We ought to be very careful when we say we are not such as he.
- The sign chosen. Judas took the two plainest marks of friendship, a greeting and a kiss, and made them his sign of betrayal.
- The sign spoken. His "Hail" means "Rejoice!" — a call to gladness spoken by a man who had lived in His company.
- The sign withheld. He says "Rabbi," never "Lord." No record exists of him using the higher title. Owning Jesus as Lord is the fruit of the Spirit's work inside a person.
- The sign overdone. The verb shifts from a simple kiss to covering Him with kisses. That eagerness shows how far a heart can harden.
- The sign received. Christ takes the traitor's kiss with the same grace He shows later when His enemies spit on Him. And grace, not our better nature, is the only reason we believers are what we are.
But Jesus said to him, [My] friend, for what purpose art thou come? Then coming up they laid hands upon Jesus and seized him.
Judas comes out of the dark with an armed crowd, and greets the One he is handing over with a kiss. Jesus still calls him "Friend." Then the crowd closes in and takes Him.
The verse above reads the Lord's words as an instruction. Older translations read them as a question: "Friend, why have you come?" Either way, He calls Judas "Friend." One writer weighs that word. It is not the word the Lord used of His disciples in John 15.
"But Jesus said to him, Friend, for what purpose have you come?" What a calm and gentle answer to the Satan-possessed Judas Iscariot. Should this tender question not have touched the conscience of the traitor? He was beyond hope. It is significant that the Lord addresses him with the word, Friend. Yet it is a different word which the Lord used in calling His disciples as recorded in John 15. The word He uses here means "companion." Judas had been a companion of the Lord. He had seen His mighty works, and the Lord had given him messianic power to heal the sick. This is the last word that wicked man ever heard addressed to himself by the Lord.
One writer sets the scene beside Psalm 41:9, and names what Judas was paid for it.
First there comes Judas, the traitor. He masked his treachery with such hypocrisy that, nineteen centuries after the event, "the traitor's kiss" is still a proverbial expression of disgust. In the language of Psalm 41:9, here was "my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread." And he had "lifted his heel against me." So Jesus addressed him as "Friend." But He asked him the searching question, "why have you come?" Judas had come to betray his Master, to gain thirty paltry pieces of silver.
Judas hides behind a gesture of affection. One writer shows what the Lord's reply still leaves open, and adds the sharper question Luke records.
The treachery of Judas still wanted to hide itself in the kiss of identification. He gives that kiss with emphasis, as if to assure the One he is betraying that he is not part of the crowd following him. The Lord sees through this disguise. He answers not with a rebuke but with a question: "Friend, why are you here?" To this He adds, as Luke tells us, the more direct one: "Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" Divine love has not, even yet, stopped pleading. It has not closed the door against his return even yet.
One writer follows Judas past the garden, and asks what filled his mind in the few hours he had left.
At the garden Judas and the Lord parted, to meet once more — and only once more. They would never meet again on earth, but at the great white throne. The Lord's last words made plain that the man's hypocrisy was unmasked. What must the traitor have thought during the few hours that he survived in this world?
Earlier tries to kill Him had failed. One writer explains why this arrest succeeded.
"Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him." You don't get everything in one part of Scripture. "He gave his back to those who strike," or they could not have touched Him. He lived far too long to please men. Look at Nazareth. They sought to kill Him there, but they could not until their hour came. "This is your hour, and the power of darkness."
Escape was open to Him, and so was rescue. Another writer explains what held Him in place.
The Lord receives it with the calmness of One who, now in the path of obedience, had perfectly bowed to His Father's will. "Friend, why have you come?" For indeed, when He warned His disciples, He might have gone away, since it was dark. But He had not come for that. He could have had twelve legions of angels; but how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? … What a testimony to Scripture and its authority! In that greatest and loneliest hour, that stands out from all and has none like it, it was enough.
- Companion — the word translated "Friend" means companion. It is not the word the Lord used of His disciples in John 15. Judas had walked with Him and seen His mighty works.
- Kiss — the sign of affection became the sign of betrayal. Psalm 41:9 had said it: the friend who ate His bread lifted his heel against Him.
- Question — the Lord answers treachery not with a rebuke but with a question, and the door of return is still not shut.
- Farewell — "Friend" was the last word Judas ever heard the Lord speak to him; they parted to meet only once more, at the great white throne.
- Surrender — hands could seize Him only when He let them. Twelve legions of angels were within reach. Scripture held Him to the path instead.