Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Betrayed by a Kiss

 

Proverbs 27:6  Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

 

Showing Affection and Love

A kiss is a way of showing true affection and love.  In the Bible, New Testament Christians were to greet one another with a holy kiss.  I am not sure what a holy kiss was but it was probably on the cheek and not on the lips and it may have been male to male and female to female.  In our Western Culture we have replaced the holy kiss with a hand shake.  I really wonder if we shouldn’t do what the Lord asks and greet one another with a holy kiss so that we don’t keep the person we are greeting at arm’s length.  In some families and churches, I see that a hug is often substituted for the handshake but again that is not as :”intimate” as a holy kiss.  I think it is really hard to kiss someone that you don’t really like and it hard to be kissed by someone you don’t really like.  Continuing the scriptural admonition to greet one another with a holy kiss might force us to deal with the anger and divisions that seem to exist in Christian circles.  If we weren’t willing to kiss or be kissed, in a holy way of course, it would be obvious to all and perhaps the underlying issues could be addressed.  Having said that, I am more than willing to stay with the handshake.

 

The Kisses of Betrayal

A kiss from a true friend is a wonderful thing.  But a kiss from a supposed friend is often deceiving.  I am sure that most of us have felt betrayed by people who professed their love for us.  Perhaps they didn’t kiss us literally, but they said that they loved us and then went on to betray us.  Now I know this sort of thing should never happen in Christian circles, but it does.  A true friend will give you constructive criticism.  A true friend will do it in an environment that will not embarrass you.  They will do it in a kind way.  A true friend wants what is best for you and will be there for you even when that involves some “wounds.”  But the enemy often “kisses” in order to deceive the person being kissed, and then they attack and try to destroy the person kissed.

 

Joab used a kiss to disarm Amasa.   In 2 Samuel 20:9-10 we read, “Then Joab said to Amasa, ‘Are you in health, my brother?’ And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.  But Amasa did not notice the sword that was in Joab’s hand. And he struck him with it in the stomach, and his entrails poured out on the ground; and he did not strike him again. Thus he died.”  He was betrayed by a kiss.

 

Judas used a kiss to betray the Lord.  In Luke 22:47-48 we read,   “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?’"  Amasa was deceived by Joab but the Lord was not deceived by Judas.  He even called Judas a friend in Matthew 26:50.  But still for Judas to pretend to be a close friend and then to use the kiss as a means of betrayal is almost mind boggling.  This was a man with absolutely no moral compass.

 

What about Us?

Could any of us be a Judas or a Joab?  I have often wondered if Joab was a “saved” man in the New Testament sense.  He betrayed a relative and a person who was competing for his position as King David’s five star general.  And yes, I think it is possible for Christians to be empire builders who are more concerned with their position and their prestige than they are concerned with the things of the Lord.  When they do this, they certainly are not walking in fellowship with the Lord, and it may be true that they have never really came to know the Lord as their Savior.  However, Judas was a son of perdition from the very beginning and the Lord knew that.  His betrayal was a complete rejection of the Lord.  His world view was self-serving.  He was using the Lord.  And no Biblical born-again Christian can be a true Judas.  The Lord was not deceived by Him.  What He did was not a surprise to the Lord.

 

A kiss can be a good thing.  In the Song of Solomon it is used to express the love of the couple.  In Psalm 2:12, it is the thing God desires for His Son.  Psalms 2:12 says, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”  The kiss here is not the kiss of a Joab or the kiss of a Judas but the kiss of one who truly loves and worships the Lord.  And the Lord gets angry with those who are not willing or who feel they are unable to love the Son in this way. 

 

Most of us do not spend time analyzing the people who kiss us, or hug us, or say that they love us.  We are in such need of affirmation that we tend to accept those expressions of love on face value.  And I think as Christians we should.  While that leaves us vulnerable to hurt and we may be deceived with a kiss, hopefully we will never do that to others.  And surely, we will not do that to the Lord.

 

Bruce Collins

 

Meditation for the week of May 1, 2016

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