The kiss of Judas, also known as the Betrayal of Christ, is the act with which Judas identified Jesus to the multitude with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests and elders of the people to arrest him, according to the Synoptic Gospels. The kiss is given by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper and leads directly to the arrest of Jesus by the police force of the Sanhedrin.
Within the life of Jesus in the New Testament, the events of his identification to hostile forces and subsequent execution are directly foreshadowed both when Jesus predicts his betrayal and Jesus predicts his death.[1]
More broadly, a Judas kiss may refer to "an act appearing to be an act of friendship, which is in fact harmful to the recipient."[2]
In Christianity, the betrayal of Jesus is mourned on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednesday) of Holy Week.[3] [4]
Judas was both a disciple of Jesus and one of the original twelve Apostles. Most Apostles originated from Galilee but Judas came from Judea.[5] The gospels of Matthew (26:47–50) and Mark (14:43–45) both use the Greek verb Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: καταφιλέω|kataphileó|label=none, which means to "kiss, caress; distinct from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φιλεῖν|philein|label=none; especially of an amorous kiss." It is the same verb that Plutarch uses to describe a famous kiss that Alexander the Great gave to Bagoas.[6] The compound verb (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κατα-) "has the force of an emphatic, ostentatious salute."[7] Lutheran theologian Johann Bengel suggests that Judas kissed him "repeatedly": "he kissed Him more than once in opposition to what he had said in the preceding verse: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φιλήσω|philēsō|a single kiss|label=none (Matthew 26:48), and did so as if from kindly feeling."[8]
According to Matthew 26:50, Jesus responded by saying: "Friend, do what you are here to do." Luke 22:48 quotes Jesus saying "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"[9]
Jesus's arrest follows immediately.[10]
In the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom the Greek Orthodox Church uses the troparion Of thy Mystical Supper.., in which the hymnist vows to Jesus that he will "...not kiss Thee as did Judas..." (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ...οὐ φίλημά σοι δώσω, καθάπερ ὁ Ἰούδας...):
Justus Knecht comments on Judas' kiss, writing:
Cornelius a Lapide in his Great commentary writes,
The scene is nearly always included, either as the Kiss itself, or the moment after, the Arrest of Jesus, or the two combined (as above), in the cycles of the Life of Christ in art or Passion of Jesus in various media. In some Byzantine cycles it is the only scene before the Crucifixion.[11] A few examples include: