It is sometimes surprising how some of our very common social customs originated. For instance, why do we shake hands when we meet? We take it as a sign of friendliness and warmth. Historians tell us that handshake originated in the Middle Ages in Europe. Men would shake hands when they met as a means of checking one another for a hidden weapon such as a dagger concealed in the sleeve. Or take the clinking of glasses as part of a toast at the table. In that era people would clink their glasses as they poured a bit of the wine into one another's cups to assure each other that no poison had been slipped into the wine.

These customs that we consider as innocent signs of friendship, marks of congeniality, were gestures rooted in suspicion and violence. Scratch beneath the surface and you find a darker significance. When Judas came to Jesus in Gethsemane's garden, he had already told the soldiers that the man he kissed would be Jesus, the One whom they should arrest. A kiss is a sign of intimate affection, of closeness, of friendship. That night in the garden, Judas gave that sign of endearment a new meaning. For that moment, it became the sign of betrayal. Jesus' words still haunt us, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss" (Luke 22:48). Yes, with a kiss Judas betrays His Lord. His kiss becomes the kiss of death.

It was the kiss that would mark Jesus for death - death on the cross. But it was also a kiss that revealed the poison in Judas' own soul, a poison so lethal it would drive Judas to go out into that dark night and take his own life. Judas, one of the twelve, who had followed our Lord for three years now, hands Him over to His enemies. Judas, whose feet had been so lovingly washed by the Master just an hour or two earlier, now runs to meet up with the officers of the guard to follow through on his hellish agreement. Judas, who had eaten with Jesus, now betrays Him. And this Thursday night is forever known as the night in which He was betrayed. Every time we come to the Lord's Supper, we hear those words.

Yet it was in that night - that dark night of His betrayal - that Jesus established for us the testament of His body and blood as an everlasting sign that He will not betray us and hand us over to our enemies. By His almighty Word, He sets in place the Supper of His holy flesh and His precious blood that we might have forgiveness of sins and through that forgiveness, life and salvation.

The real tragedy of Judas is not that he betrayed Jesus. Who of us has not in some way and at some time not betrayed Jesus? We are not all that different from Judas. We, too, know of our private and sometimes not so private ways by which we have betrayed our Lord. Like Judas we have devised our own outward ways of showing affection for Jesus as a cover for betrayal. We have piously sung holy hymns while harboring hatred in our hearts. Judas' sin was deep and dark. But so is our sin. The real tragedy of Judas was that he did not see that the death of Jesus was sufficient also for his sin - yes, even the sin of betrayal. Judas would not see that, and so, blinded by unbelief and consumed in grief, he ran away from the Lamb of God. Rejecting the forgiveness of sins, Judas plunged himself into hell.

We need not run away from this Lord whom we also have betrayed. We must not run away from Him, for to do so is to be utterly alone and without hope. In the night in which He was betrayed, He gave us the meal of His crucified body and the blood of the new testament. Down through the ages and even into this Thursday night, Jesus comes to us with His body and blood that we might have the forgiveness that Judas refused. He comes to us, ever as the One who came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. He comes to embrace us with His mercy and shine on us with the light of His favor. He comes as God's own dearly loved Passover Lamb whose body is given us to eat and whose blood is given us to drink as God's own last will and testament.

The Lord, who was not ashamed to eat with tax collectors and sinners, is Host here tonight. We come to His table because we so desperately need what He alone can give - hope for our heartaches, forgiveness for our guilt, peace for our conflicted souls. It is all here in Jesus' body and blood. To prepare this Table for you, He was betrayed into the hands of sinners and He suffered and died your death on the cross. This meal cost Jesus His life. It is no ordinary dinner. It is the Lord's Supper. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.