The Kiss of Judas

A kiss is one of the most intimate and welcoming gestures humans can share.  

This gesture is used to express love in couples, in greeting or farewell among friends or loved ones, and to comfort or console; with Judas’ kiss, sin has corrupted this act of acceptance and love into an act of betrayal and total rejection. All five senses are utilized in this gesture of intimacy; we touch, taste, smell, hear, and see the other, encountering them in their dignity.

Today is Holy Thursday, when we remember both the institution of the Holy Eucharist and Judas’s betrayal, signified with a kiss. Jesus will be rejected by many, but this first, deeply personal rejection from Judas, acting on behalf of himself, the Sanhedrin, and all sinners, must have been one of His most hurtful wounds. Judas, whom Jesus chose to follow Him, completely rejected Him, as if to say: “I reject you with all of my senses and will, I want nothing you have to offer me, and I want nothing you have given me.” It is an act of extreme sinfulness. 

Jesus’ reaction is one of pain, pity, and acceptance of this rejection. “Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” He pities Judas and tries to make him aware of both Judas’ sinfulness and Jesus’ identity. As if to say: “Do you remember Judas, who I am, what you have seen, and what I have done for you?” Judas is invited even here, to repent. Instead of rejecting Jesus with a kiss, to be like the penitent woman who kissed Jesus’ feet with all the sorrow for her sins.

How can we become less like Judas, who rejected Jesus entirely, and more like Mary, His Blessed Mother, who accepted Him wholly with her “fiat”?

When we receive the Holy Eucharist, we are closer to Jesus than even Judas with his kiss. At the Mass, we hear the words of consecration, and we see Jesus under the sacred species. We smell, touch, and taste Him when we consume Him. As we look to receive our resurrected Lord on Easter, let us receive Him worthily, and when the Sacred Host touches our tongues, kiss and welcome Him. Tell Jesus that we accept Him wholly and completely. We accept His gifts, His love, His will, and Himself, which is what He wants to give us for all eternity.

Mr. Angsten is a College III seminarian for the Diocese of Arlington.