a question on jesus ?

Question

if he was so well known by his miracles, had crowds of 1,000's listening to him, had the jewish priests wanting him dead, why did judas have to identify him by a kiss ?

but luke 22;52 says
'then jesus said to the chief priests,the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him.....
there is no mention in luke of roman soldiers until the next day when they took him to pilate. also whilst dark peter was recognised 3 times and denied knowing jesus

Answer 1

That's the gaff! - Judas was rich and would not have needed thirty pieces of silver...

The palace guards, priests, etc would all have known who Jesus was - kicking over the money tables, etc...

Didn't Peter betray Jesus by cutting of the guards ear???

Where were all of the good loyal disciples when Jesus was being crucified - Oh that's right, they had all pissed off, apart from John...

Answer 2

Don't know if this is a complete answer but...

You have to consider something...

Back then they didn't have the kind of media that we have today.. they didn't have Jesus's face plastered all over billboards and tv , magazines etc. Like a superstar would today. Not even kings of that time were necessarily well recognized by all. They were well known by name , but not by image.
And also, Judas was identifying Jesus to Roman soldiers if I recall correctly. Not many Roman soldiers would have been amongst the followers of Jesus I believe.

Answer 3

His person was known by His miracles, not His face. The Lord looked like an ordinary person, He had absolutely nothing that made Him look special if you didn't know Him. That's why Judas had to identify Him with a kiss.

Answer 4

You mean you think the Jewish priests would have been seeing Jesus' face everynight on the telly--oh, wait. People in the first century didn't have televisions.

OK, surely they would have seen Jesus' photo in the daily paper. No, wait! People in the first century neither had printed newspapers nor photography.

I guess they'd need someone to point out the suspect to the arresting officers after all.

Answer 5

Judas' plan was to bring Jesus to the guards and that would be the way he would identify Him. It was a common Jewish greeting to greet one another in that manner (in fact i think some middle eastern cultures still greet one another in that way). Jesus revealed that He knew what was going on in Judas heart and though he had fooled everyone else, it was Jesus who allowed himself to be detained.

Hope that helps,

Nickster

Answer 6

I'm guessing that it's because it was dark in the garden of Gethsemane -- with torches providing the only light, it was probably not all that easy to tell people from each other.

Also, the guards who arrested Jesus were, quite likely, not present during any of His miracles, nor were they present in any of the crowds that Jesus had around Him.

Answer 7

The Juda's kiss was more than a simple kiss, it was a symbol.

kiss, if you maybe know, nowadays is shortened with an x, which is a slanted cross, also a slanted +.

Don't get too close to their meaning, could be dangerous and I mean it !

Answer 8

There wasn't a lot of photography in the 1st century AD. The soldiers coming to arrest him probably hadn't gone to see him before. It's therefore not a huge leap in logic that he would have needed pointing out.

Answer 9

Have you ever been out in the dark with no light?... also, not every one had actualy seen Him close up. There was to TV or internet back then... if you had not seen someone personaly you would not know what they looked like.

Answer 10

First not everyone would recognize him and second it was dark and most men back then wore the same style outfit, had the same beard and skin tone. Perhaps they also wanted to humiliate him by having one of his own be the one to hand him over.