Killed with kisses

Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”  — Luke 22:48 

If Judas the betrayer had truly repented, would Jesus have accepted him? I believe so. No one can out-sin the grace of God. Judas may have saddened our Lord more by hanging himself than by betraying Him. I think his act of despair meant that he didn’t believe our Lord would forgive him.

In the novel The Flight Of The Shadow, author George MacDonald tells a story of a young girl, Belorba Whichcote, who lived with her uncle. One morning she watched him take a piece of jewelry out of a cabinet drawer, hold it up briefly to the light, and then quickly put it back.

After her uncle left the house for the day, Belorba looked in the drawer without his permission. Guilt immediately flooded her heart, and she nervously waited for his return. When he came back that evening, she fell at his feet, confessed what she had done and how awful she felt. Then she sobbed, “Please, Uncle will you kill me?”

“Yes, yes,” her uncle replied. “I will kill you, my darling! This way! This way!” Then, stretching out his arms, he drew her in and covered her face with kisses.

What a marvelous picture of our Lord’s love for the sinner who comes humbly before Him! How He longs to “kiss us” with kisses!   — David Roper

The pain of facing up to truth

And saying “I am wrong”

Is soothed by Christ’s redeeming love,

Which fills the heart with song. — D. De Haan

READ: Matthew 27:3-10

Sin brings fear; confession brings freedom.

The Bible in one year:

• 2 Chronicles 26-29