While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” (NIV)

I have long thought that we also, even as we are ‘kissing’ Jesus with the ‘lips‘ of praise and worship, may be Judas-like in betraying Him with our lives. May God help us. If Judas was trying to hide his treachery from his fellow disciples, He could not pull the wool over the eyes of His Lord. Yet it has been argued that even in that sad moment Jesus sought to touch Judas’ heart (48).

This paragraph shows Jesus’ power, even in a situation (humanly-speaking) of weakness. It gives us a glimpse of the Lord’s capability had He chosen to resist. But, of course, He didn’t. We see in Him ‘Meekness and Majesty’.

The last sentence underlines the truth that Jesus could not die before His appointed time. Not for one millisecond did God surrender His control of all things.