“Merciful Father, as you have sent the Holy Spirit on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to write all that You wished and wanted, we pray You, send the same Holy Spirit on us, so that we may understand, appreciate Your Word, and make it our plan of life. This we ask for the merits of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
27 …. A more expressive and complete bow would be going down on their knees, bow down their head, touching it to the ground and kiss the feet of their host or the dust of his feet, or the lower part of their dress or garment. This was done for royalties, or as a thanksgiving for a favour granted. To those unaccustomed to these manners, they might think that they are adoring or worshipping the person.
We do read something similar to this thought in the Acts 10,25:
“And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down to his feet, and worshipped him.”
But this, simply means, he showed his great respect towards Peter. In fact Peter did not accept this gesture, lest it be interpreted that Cornelius was adoring him.
On entering a Bedouin’s tent, the host greets the guest with words like: “Salam alakum”, which means, “Peace be with you.” This greeting sounds almost the same in Maltese. We say: “Sliem għalikom”, similar to the “Salam alakum.” One can’t not stop and say: “But why do we not greet each other the way these people used to?” How beautiful is that greeting when friends meet: “Peace be with you.” We got used to saying, Hello, Hi, Ciao, …..I honestly enjoy reading on the Facebook that wonderful salutation: ‘God bless you’, or ‘Blessed be God’ or ‘God bless us’.
Let us be the pioneers of turning back the clock of culture, otherwise it will not be long before we forget what we are celebrating on Christmas Day, as has already happened on All Souls Day. I only hope it’s not too late already.
Jesus Himself recommended this greeting to His disciples according to Luke, 10, 5-6:
“And into whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you.”
So, this is not my idea, my suggestion, it is Jesus Himself suggesting how we should greet each other.
Guests in the Holy Land even expect to be kissed as they enter a house. You do recall when Jesus entered the house of a Pharisee who had invited Him for dinner. We find it in Luke, 7, 45:
“You did not give me a kiss.”
Now let us imagine that we are witnesses in a garden, on a moonlit night, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus surrounded by some of His friends, are taken by surprise by the commotion, and the heavy footsteps of an approaching platoon soldiers. There were 600 soldiers under the command of a Tribune. Just try to imagine the unimaginable…600 soldiers to arrest 1 person, Jesus Christ, who was neither acriminal, nor notorious, like Barabbas,
The Kiss. We have been reading and have known it since childhood, that Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. It has become common knowledge, something stored in our memory, we recollect it, remember it, but, maybe, it has lost the impact, its real meaning. Because we have to know exactly, what was behind the Kiss? How was the Kiss given? What was the meaning of the Kiss? Knowing the answer to these questions should change our interpretation of the Kiss of Judas to Jesus.
It’s not only the fact that by the act of kissing Judas had handed over Jesus to His enemies. It goes deeper than that. When friends met they used to exchange a kiss. This is the way it was done. Now, imagine Judas facing Jesus. He puts his right hand on Jesus’ left shoulder and kisses His right cheek. To do this, Judas had to draw, to pull towards him, Jesus, he had to put his chest to Jesus’ chest…..that means Judas heart and Jesus’ heart were almost touching each other. Their beat was certainly synchronized, both hearts beating fast; Judas with excitement, rash to get over with it, and Jesus was feeling the sorrow of betrayal and the loss of a friend.
So the position of the person kissing another person, outwardly shows a certain endearment, an action of love, which draws admiration from onlookers. For an instant their hearts became one heart. YET, a sign, which normally expresses love, endearment, admiration, friendship was used to lead to another act. This act of love was to lead to another act bereft of any love. How difficult it is to express such an act; as if I am embracing someone – an embrace is a sign of love – with the sole aim of suffocating that person and killing him. Forgive us Lord, in the name of Love, we often bring death, forgive us, Lord. /28
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