Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?

 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.  Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep?  Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."

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?"  When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?"  And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.  But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this."  And He touched his ear and healed him.

- Luke 22:39-51

Yesterday we read that at the Last Supper, the Lord said to Simon Peter, "Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."  But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death."  Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."  And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  So they said, "Nothing."  Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:  'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'  For the things concerning Me have an end."  So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords."  And He said to them, "It is enough."

 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."   We remember that Jesus stays in Jerusalem as a pilgrim among other pilgrims, here on the Mount of Olives.  He has warned His disciples about what is coming, telling them (in yesterday's reading, above), "Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat."  Jesus' own words to the disciples tell us what we must be doing at all times of stress, difficulty, and temptation for our best protection.

And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."  Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.   My study bible tells us that Christ's agony was the product of His human nature.  When He asks that the cup be taken away, He reveals His human will.  As He submits His human will to the Father, Christ reveals His divine will to be one with the Father's.  But He further shows that each person must submit his own will to God's will (11:2).   Christ willingly takes in Himself the voice of weak humanity, says my study bible, and thereby conquers weakness.  "The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened" (Pope St. Gregory the Great).

When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.  Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep?  Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."  In some sense, Luke shows us more about the strength of Christ, and also His aloneness -- even the disciples sleep.  Enforcing the message about times of struggle and strain, Jesus tells them again, "Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."  That is good advice for all of us.

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?"  When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?"  And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.  But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this."  And He touched his ear and healed him.  Once again, the depth of betrayal is emphasized when we are told by Luke repeatedly that Judas was one of the twelve.  To be betrayed with a kiss emphasizes the level of betrayal even further, and Jesus' question is yet another attempt to save Judas.  My study bible says that the healing of the high priest's ear is recorded only by St. Luke the physician.  It indicates that this is the manner in which we are to treat our enemies.  Church Fathers see a spiritual meaning in that it is Christ who gives people the ability to hear the truth and thereby come to salvation (see 8:8; 14:35).

What do we see in Jesus' healing of the ear of the servant of the high priest?  First of all, we must understand Jesus' actions in the context of His own mission.  He accepts what is about to happen, and His own undergoing of the Passion, as that which the Father asks of Him.  He submits His will to the Father's will, even though as human being His natural impulse is otherwise.  But that doesn't mean that those who participate in implementing His persecution and suffering do something good or have made a good choice.  As He said in Wednesday's reading, "Truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  But in all things and in all ways, Jesus' conduct reflects that which is asked of Him by God the Father.  There is to be no violence, no resistance.  That is not part of the plan by which He is to carry out His mission.  He does not form a resistance army, nor is He in any way a Messiah who has shown desire to be a worldly king with an empire.  He carries out His duties with the fullness of fidelity to faith, and to the humility He has expressed and shown His disciples.  But there is a key to our understanding in His words at the Last Supper.  In Thursday's reading, the disciples argue with one another as to who would be greatest in His kingdom, supposing, we might imagine, that Christ has indicated a worldly kingdom is imminent.  Jesus explains to them that as He is a servant, so the greatest among them must be servant to all.  But then He suddenly tells them, "But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."  To bring judgment into the world is simply to live out our faith.  The disciples are the ones who have continued with Him in His trials, in faith.  Jesus is consistent in His faith and fidelity to the Father.  In healing the ear of the servant, He is acting in accordance with His mission, and the conduct He must bear as servant to the Father and to all of us, expressing the fullness of faith.  And in this action is judgment.  The time He initiates, the period in which we live now, is a time of judgment, to be culminated at His return.  We, who would be His disciples, must also conduct ourselves with the fullness of our faith, for only in this is true testimony given, and truthful judgment rendered.  Jesus does nothing to provoke, nothing to indicate He wishes to usurp worldly power.  He is here on a mission, and it is one of redemption and spiritual liberation for all of us.  He is true in all ways and through all things to that mission, and by doing so, He becomes the supreme witness for Judgment.  He acts in complete freedom, and helps us to the same.  He gives testimony, as we must do who follow Him.  And this is the one way true judgment can happen in the world, true testimony.  Let us endeavor to be like Him and to participate in His life and His mission, each in our own ways.  Let us understand Him and pray that we know our own mission, the will of the Father for us, and forbear and persist in His mission of liberating salvation, like Him.