Immediately he came to Jesus, and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 49. Hail, Rabbi. And he kissed him. This kind of salutation was ordinary with the Jews. Saint Luke tells us, Christ called Judas friend; and added, Is it with a kiss thou betrayest the Son of man? By what we read in Saint John, these men that came with Judas, seem not to have known our Saviour: for when he asked then, whom seek you? they do not answer, thyself, but Jesus of Nazareth. They were struck with a blindness, which S. Chrysostom looks upon as done miraculously. The second miracle was, that when Christ said, I am he, they fell to the ground, as thunder-struck. The third was, let these go, by which they had no power to seize any one of his disciples. The fourth was, the healing of Malchus’s ear. Witham.