The kisses of an enemy

At least two things reveal the identity of true friends: adversity and money. When one or the other come into the picture, true friends are there and offer the same support as they always have. Those who are less than true either pack up and leave, or suddenly become even friendlier.

Jesus was close to twelve men that He selected to be His disciples. As the time of His death drew near, all of them claimed they would never forsake Him, but all did, even Peter who stuck around longer than the others.  Worse still, one of them betrayed Him — with a kiss.

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:47–48)

These days, the term “Judas kiss” refers to any action that appears to be friendly but is actually harmful and with hidden intentions. I’m reminded  of verses like, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6) and “The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends” (Proverbs 14:20).

Discerning people sense when someone is faking friendship. Jesus knew that Judas was betraying Him, even though his outward actions appeared friendly. This was the worst sort of betrayal for it was done to identify Jesus so His enemies could kill Him.

My experience with this hasn’t gone that far. Those who have treated me in a friendly way but with hidden motives have wanted something, but thankfully not my life. It is usually money and occasionally has been something else that belonged to me.

That they wanted something is heightened by the meaning of profuse in Proverbs 27:6, where it says “profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” I’m not sure why this comes out as “profuse” when the Hebrew word means to pray, plead or entreat. That is, the kisses of an enemy are that person’s way of trying to get something that they really want.

In Judas case, he did it for thirty pieces of silver. In my life, the usual motive is to try and sell me something. Those who do it are usually more obvious than Judas, not hiding the fact that they want my money, but their “niceness” is phoney, a “kiss up” kind of approach. It is supposed to make me think they really care about me. However, this has the opposite effect; I’m turned off by such tactics.

One example is the telemarketer who says, “Hello Mrs. M . . . How are you today?” All I hear is, “I want your money” and have to bite my tongue rather than give them a curt, “You don’t care how I am. What do you really want?”

*****

Lord, I’m thankful that You give me little alarm bells that signal the “kisses of an enemy” to let me know when someone is offering insincere flattery or other actions that mask their true intentions. It doesn’t happen very often, for which I’m also thankful. Protect me and protect all of Your people from this sort of behavior that could lead us into trouble. Help us discern rightly and behave responsibly.

Also, teach the Judas-types of this world that while “kissing up” might work with some, it marks them as people without integrity. Show them that there are better ways to get what they want.

Most of all, keep me from doing this to others. Help me to always be honest about my motivations and enable me to treat even the kissy-kissy people with respect and integrity.