Kissing Without Worshipping
Another mistake we see being made during Jesus' arrest was the mistake of Judas. We read: "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, but Jesus asked him, 'Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'" (Luke 22:47-48)
One of our favourite TV shows was always "Keeping Up Appearances" - remember that? The main character, named Hyacinth, cared about one thing only: appearing fancy to everybody else. She married a poor man named Richard Bucket, but insisted that it was pronounced "bouquet" because it sounded fancier!
She would spend each episode trying to retain her grace and poise so that people thought she was wealthy and respectable, and the humour was that it would go wrong every episode and her quest to be fancy would be destroyed.
Keeping Up Spiritual Appearances
Many people try this in their spiritual lives! They want to appear one way - to 'keep up the appearance' of being a dedicated Christian - when the truth is that it's just an appearance and not reality.
The picture of Judas kissing Jesus is a picture of somebody wanting to keep up appearances!
Perhaps church is full of people making this mistake - doing churchy things so that it appears that they are committed Christians when their hearts are not interested in God.
When I was in my early 20s, I went through a stage when I was not interested in God. I didn't want anything to do with God. I was bitter, resentful, I think my self-loathing became aimed at God. But I still wanted to play my music, and my band CrossRoad was picking up momentum.
We were asked to play at a youth camp one year, and I remember saying to God on the morning the camp began: "leave me alone Lord. I don't like You anymore. I don't want to know You today. I'm here to rock n roll; just let me be."
What a terrible attitude. I'm glad it didn't last, and God saved me from that.
God Sees Your Heart
I spent that whole weekend being a Judas - "kissing" the face of Jesus, by all appearances, as I sang great songs of praise and worship and led the camp in godly words and music, while despising Him in my heart!
God has very harsh words of judgement for those who pretend to follow Him but are just putting on a show. In fact the Old Testament prophets were continually warning the people of God to not just put on a godly show, but to truly follow Him! To truly worship Him with their whole hearts and not just in appearances.
Let's ask ourselves today: is our faith just a show? To please somebody else in our circle? To "seem" more interested than we are? Out of habit?
The truth is, in the end you can fool the people around you. You can fool each person in church or in your circle.
But God sees your heart!
Before Judas even got to Him, Jesus was saying "are you betraying me with a kiss?"
Learn from the mistake of Judas. Don't put on a show. Worship from the heart, not just with your lips.
Judas kissed Jesus, appearing to respect Him, while despising Him in his heart. Do we sometimes do the same?