Matthew 26:49 "Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him." commentary- Jesus knew Judas was going to betray. him. Judas (in verses 14-16) plotted to point out Jesus to the high priests for Jesus to be arrested. The high priests wanted Jesus gone due to all the "problems" he had been causing to the established governmental rule. Jesus did God's will and did not follow the Pharisees and Sadducees. They saw it as a split in leadership and the established leaders wanted the power back for themselves. The needed help from Judas and he says in verse 48 that the man he kisses is the one that is Jesus. But Jesus knew this was going to happen. He makes mention of this in verses 20-25 and then he again confirms it after the confirming kiss in verses 47-50.The bottom line, Judas did this out of greed. Hold that thought and I will connect the next section in the final paragraph.
In verses 34-35 Jesus predicts Peters betrayal as well. Peter tried to defend himself and says that he would die with Jesus and never disown him. But it comes true after Jesus is captured. Jesus said that Peter would deny Jesus three time before the rooster crowed. After Jesus was captured, others tried to see who else was connected to Jesus. Peter wanted to save himself. He could have been saving himself from embarrassment (people attacking his character and associations) or physically saving himself (they may have wanted to beat and kill him along with Jesus). Either way, Peter did not stay true to his word and Jesus knew it. The bottom line, Peter denied Jesus out of fear.
To wrap it up, we deny Jesus all the time. Yes. WE. We are associated with Christ and do not stand up for his name and his words when he is attacked. We are associated with him, but when people are antagonistic we refuse to defend Christ. We just let people attack him and who he is. We are far more likely to stand up against people who talk bad on our favorite sports teams. We wear jerseys from the teams we love or the colleges we attended and graduated from, we defend those to the death. Yet, we become mouse like in defense of Jesus. Just like Peter, we get scared to speak up and defend him and defend what you believe in.
WE (yes WE) also allow other "things" to get in the way of our relationship with Jesus. Just like Judas, we sell out Jesus for money. Have you ever skipped church due to work? was it just one time? Is it often? Yes you need to make money to live, but just as man cannot live of bread and water alone, man also cannot live without getting fed spiritually. Just like Judas, we trade Jesus for things as if they are more important than the relationship that we have with him.
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