When I started this blog, I was using it as sermon prompts using Matthew. I've decided to change direction a bit and just write about whatever I'm thinking or reading. So, here is the final post on Matthew: Judas betrayal of Jesus by that most intimate of acts, a kiss.
Matthew 26:49 - At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Today I want to start by talking about intimacy. Judas has been with him almost since the beginning. We first read about him in chapter 10. During this time, they have walked together, talked together, eaten together, and shared sleeping quarters. Jesus has taught them and shown his power to them. They have lived together as family, working together to make sure everyone was fed and clothed and taken care of. Jesus has shared himself with them.
This is the depth of intimacy that Judas’ kiss betrays, an intimacy that rivals that of families. To illustrate this, I’m going to look at three paintings of the betrayal that depict the moment of Judas’ betrayal. Not surprisingly, Jesus is white in each of these paintings, because that’s all I could find. It’s another example of imaging Jesus as ourselves.
On to the paintings. First up is “The Arrest of Jesus (Kiss of Judas),” painted by Giotto between 1304 – 1306. It now resides in the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua, Italy. (Image from Wikiart.)
If you’re at all like me, the first thing your eyes go to is Judas’ yellow robe. It is much brighter than the other colors of the painting. Judas lifts his hand – and the robe with it – to draw Jesus in closer, thus obscuring Jesus’ body from the viewer. This is what creates the intimacy in this picture. The space enclosed within the robe signifies the trust they share.
Although Giotto has included all the other elements of the story in the painting – the clubs, the swords, the torches, the crowd, the night – they are merely stage-setting for the drama being played out between Jesus and Judas, as he moves in to embrace and kiss Jesus. Jesus seems resolved to what is happening – staring stone-faced directly into Judas’ face. I imagine this makes it harder for Judas to kiss him, but Judas manages.
The second painting is “The Judas Kiss,” painted by Karl Bryullov between 1843-7. (Image from https://gallerix.org/album/Brullov/pic/glrx-671124267.)
Compared to the previous painting, this is subdued. The colors are muted and earthy. The reddish hue around the edges suggests blood. Judas and Jesus are in the center of the painting, lit by a torch. They catch our eye not only because of this color scheme but also because the painting is spare. The crowd and the night so painstakingly painted by Giotto are merely suggested. One man on the left with a club is the only suggestion of violence. The apostles are behind Jesus looking lost, a little unsure what is going on or what to do. The colors and the hyper-focus on Judas and Jesus creates the intimacy of the moment. Finally, an exquisite touch, which reminds the viewer what the consequences of this action will be, is the thorny branch wending its way across the bottom of the painting, an allusion to the crown of thorns Jesus will shortly wear.
The final painting creates yet a third way to show the intimacy and depth of Judas’ betrayal. Painted by Sirak Skitnik in 1920, this work gives the viewer a more extreme close up view than Byullov did. (Image from Wikiart.)
Here again, the crowd and the night are merely suggested: there is a face in the upper right corner and an eye in the upper right. In fact, this picture is dominated, not by Jesus, but by Judas, his dark face and curly hair taking up the bottom third of the painting. Even so, our eyes go straight for the light of Jesus’ halo. We see only the top part of Jesus’ face, obscured as it is by Judas’ face and his left hand grasping it. Jesus’ one visible eye is a very sad eye, giving this picture the pathos that the thorny branch gave to the previous picture. This kiss will not end well.
The problem with this painting, of course, is that Judas’ skin is dark, presumably to represent his dark soul, with Jesus’ white skin representing his purer soul. Unfortunately, the outcome of this decision, is a racist painting. Implying that dark skin is evil and white skin is not. We might think this is a technicality, but images get into our brains and are interpreted often without our conscious mind’s input. This painting would work equally well with a much lighter-skinned Judas or even a more realistic darker-skinned Jesus. He was a Jewish man who spent a lot of time in the sun. Lily white is not what he looked like.
But back to the point. Judas’ kiss was a big betrayal with huge consequences, good and bad. It is easy to see this and judge him. Yet, I have betrayed my friends and family before, and some of you have too. Sure, I’m willing to bet they were not as big. And … we can all do better. Let’s challenge ourselves, like last week, to be uncomfortable with our beliefs. Did this post remind you of a betrayal, either yours or someone else’s? Has it been made right? What would it take? Or, if we were betrayed, how could we think differently about it?
B
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