Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Now he that betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He: hold him fast. Lest He escape, as He did at other times. "And lead Him away carefully," adds S. Mark. For Judas was afraid lest Christ should escape by changing His shape, and that He should thus lose the thirty pieces of silver, which were not as yet given, but only promised.
Gave them a sign. That the Roman soldiers might know him. For it was night. And perhaps, as some moderns suggest, from His likeness to S. James the Less, His kinsman.
I shall kiss. Origen mentions a tradition that Christ had two countenances, one natural, the other assumed at will, as at His transfiguration, and that Judas gave this sign for fear Christ should alter His appearance, so as not to be recognised. But this is a gratuitous assumption, and not to the point, for Judas was not present at the Transfiguration; and even had he been there, he might reasonably fear that Christ might render Himself invisible, as He kn...
Judas wished to give them a sign, because Jesus had before been apprehended, and had escaped from them on account of their ignorance of his person; which on this occasion he could also have done, if such had been his pleasure. (St. John Chrysostom)
There is a certain order to the different facets of Christ’s suffering. But the reason for Judas’s kiss was that we might discern all our enemies and those who we know would delight in raging against us. The Lord does not resist his kiss.
It was shameless indeed and a sign of broken trust to call him master and to plant a kiss on the one he betrayed. But Judas still has something of the modesty of a disciple, for he does not deliver up Christ to his persecutors openly but with the sign of a kiss. This is the mark which God put on Cain lest anyone who came upon him should kill him. .
How fitting are the instruments of the priests! They came against him “with swords and clubs.” Judas himself was with them, one of the Twelve. In the interest of fair disclosure the Evangelist still calls him “one of the Twelve,” unashamedly. “Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him.’ ” O with what depravity had the traitor’s soul been inflamed! With what kind of eyes did he then look at his Master? With what mouth did he kiss him? O accursed purpose! What sign did he devise? What did he dare? What sort of clue of betrayal did he give? Whoever I kiss! He was emboldened by his Master’s gentleness. Yet it by itself was sufficient to shame him. The kiss deprived him of all excuse, for he was betraying one incomparably meek. But why does he say [“Seize the one I kiss”?] Often when Jesus had been under attack and possible seizure, he had gone out from the crowd, through the middle of it, without their even knowing it. The Gospel of Matthew...
For having shown his own strength, at once he yielded himself. But the other Evangelist says that even at that very moment he continued to reprove him, saying, “Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss?” Are you not ashamed even of the form of your betrayal? Nonetheless he submitted to be kissed and did not even resist this shameless act. He gave himself up willingly. They laid their hands on him. They seized him that night on which they ate the Passover. To such a degree did they boil with rage and madness. They, however, would have had no strength against him unless he had permitted it. Yet this did not deliver Judas from unspeakable punishment. He even more exceedingly condemns himself by the manner of his betrayal, by the Lord’s meekness and leniency and gentleness. He became fiercer than any wild beast. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
Oh! What depravity had the traitor's soul received. For with what kind of eyes did he then look at his Master? With what mouth did he kiss Him? Oh! accursed purpose; what did he devise? What did he dare? What sort of sign of betrayal did he give? Whomsoever I shall kiss, he says. He was emboldened by his Master's gentleness, which more than all was sufficient to shame him, and to deprive him of all excuse for that he was betraying one so meek.
