(English)
Glory be to Jesus Christ!
(Luke XXII, 48) — Judas, do you give out the Son of Man with a kiss?
, — the question of God the
Creator to man, which shows that God created kisses for love, closeness (intimacy), special
manifestation of personality, when through the body is also revealed something that is not reduced
only to the body. The kiss is created by God by design as a sign, that is, it always means
something, points to (probably better to translate, indicates) something, but Judas distorted
himself in a way that commits a serious sin by kissing as a sign of his betrayal, a sign of the evil
one. A kiss may point to (indicate, be related to) the body, may point to the soul, may — to the
evil one (as in the case of Judas' kiss), or may — to God. The Lord reveals the depth of Judas' fall
by calling him to repentance through manifestation of his sin (oh, if Judas had really thought about
the words of Christ, he could repent, instead he died in despair afterwards).
The following two paragraphs were added on February 22, 2023. What did Judas' kiss point to (indicate)? He pointed out that Judas had not taken anything for himself during the years of his close stay with Jesus, had not learned anything. But Judas didn't think about it. He didn't want to learn anything. And the devil found a way to seduce him. And the worst part is not even that he actually crossed out his whole life with betrayal, but that he sought to destroy Jesus, His work, and also crossed out the lives of other disciples of Jesus. Judas never saw Jesus as a Savior, did not cognize Him, and later perished in despair.
Let's take a look at another question, what should a kiss be for it to be good?
You can reason differently, but one thought is obviously correct — it must point to (indicate) God,
that is, to actually be from God. And, of course, not to be from the evil one. And it must be said
that it is almost impossible to imagine a situation where a kiss from God does not also point to
(indicate) the soul (and possibly the body) at the same time. God in this sense does not
monopolize
, does not appropriate the meaning of a kiss to Himself, but wants the soul (and
possibly the body) to participate in the fact that creation is sanctified as it approaches the
Creator.
In this case, even what points to the body will be good, as the Apostle says, because that is done
in the Lord
(unfortunately, I quote by heart, I could not find it in the Epistles). The human
condition, when his / her kiss is in the Lord is called the holistic state, state of integrity, the Slavic целомудрие
,
because it points not only to the whole person, to his / her whole nature, but also to his / her
purpose, to his / her vocation, to his / her strength and growth, and the like — to God.
Being in this state, If affirmed, is also called the same word.
Lord, grant us mercy to be faithful!
Glory be to You, our God, glory be to You!
Source: https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/ Facebook author's page