Why does Judas kiss Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane?

Answer 1

Matthew 26:48 "Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomever I shall kiss, that same is he; hold him fast." When Judas kissed Jesus it was a sign that he was the one to be arrested.

Another answer:

Jesus had "escaped" Satan's previous attempts in His life to KILL HIM before it was the right time [i.e. Herod's slaughter of the two-year-olds - Matt.2:16; the furious hometown folks in Nazareth - Luke 4;28-30; and the mob in the Temple - John 8:59]. In two of these attempts, as an adult, Jesus escaped, because "He looked like any other Jew throughout Judaea."

"...There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him." (Isa.53:2 NLTNew Living Translation)

This was much more than just a "customary greeting" of the region... Judas "HAD TO I.D. JESUS" because He was so common- and ordinary-looking that He could have been mistaken for anyone else!

If Jesus looked like the standard agreed-upon "Renaissance artists' rendition of Jesus" that the world has come to believe was His appearance [an effeminate, long-haired, lamb-carrying, halo-sporting, hippy flowerchild of the sixties]... those Jews could have picked Him out of crowd from across the field of a packed football stadium. And they wouldn't have needed Judas.

"Judas had given them a prearranged signal: 'You WILL KNOW WHICH ONE to arrest when I go over and give Him the kiss of greeting.'" (Matt.26:48 NLT)

Answer 2

A kiss is a sign of close friendship. Just as the author of Mark's Gospel tells us that the betrayal occurred precisely at midnight, the darkest hour, he used this passage to show the contrast between Judas' claim to be a close friend and the dark deed he was doing by betraying Jesus. The authors of Matthewand Luke copied Mark.

In John's gospel, however, we are told that Judas was simply with the arresting party and no kiss was mentioned. This does not mean that it did not happen, of course, merely that John did not record it.