Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 22:48

"But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" — Luke 22:48 (ASV)

Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? By the Son of man was evidently meant the Messiah. Judas had had the most satisfactory evidence of that and did not doubt it. A kiss was the sign of affection. By that slight artifice Judas thought to conceal his base purpose.

Jesus severely reproaches him for it. Every word is emphatic. Are you betraying—do you violate all your obligations of fidelity and deliver your Master to death? Are you betraying—you, so long with him, so much favoured, so sure that this is the Messiah? Are you betraying the Son of man—the Messiah, the hope of the nations, the desire of all people, the world's Redeemer?

Are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss—the sign of friendship and affection employed in a base and wicked purpose, intending to add deceit, disguise, and the prostitution of a mark of affection to the crime of treason? Every word of this must have gone to the very soul of Judas. Perhaps few reproofs of crime more resemble the awful searchings of the souls of the wicked in the day of judgment.