The Kiss of Life

· Recently a routine police patrol was parked outside a bar in Houma, Louisiana. After last call, the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed like an eternity, in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his car and fall into it. He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off ( it was a fine, dry, summer night) flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed little and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons vehicles left. At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road. The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test. To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all!! Dumbfounded, the officer said "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken."

· "I doubt it", the truly proud Cajun said. "Tonight I'm the Designated Decoy."

The Kiss of Life

· 1967

· Rocco Morabito

· Randal Champion

· J. D. Thompson

· 1968 Pulitzer Prize: The Kiss of Life

· Mouth to mouth has become known as “the kiss of life”

Show Picture

First Kiss of Life

· So where did this “kiss of life” come from? Perhaps:

Genesis 2:7 NIV

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

· It was God’s “kiss” that made us into living beings – able to walk, think, FEEL, and LOVE

Elisha and the Boy

2 Kings 4:32–35 NIV

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

· Elisha’s “kiss” brought life to the boy

Kissing in the Bible

· Accepted – WELCOMED form of greeting showing affections, respect, humility, etc.

· Everywhere we see kissing in the bible, it generally points to life and something good about life

· A deep respect for life

· EXCEPT one:

The Kiss of Death?

Matthew 26:48–50 NIV

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.

· We know what this kiss led to – the crucifixion of Jesus

· Surely this kiss was a kiss of death – the one that ended the life of the Messiah

This Kiss of Death led to:

· Matt 26:56 – disciples deserted him and ran away

· Matt 26:61 -- Falsely accused

· Matt 26:67 – Spit in his face, beat him, slapped him, taunted him

· Matt 26:69-74 – Denied 3 times by Peter

· Matt 27:2 – tied him up and handed over

· Matt 27:12 – falsely accused by priests and elders

· Matt 27:21 – a guilty man took his place of freedom

· Matt 27:25 – flogged

· Matt 27:25 – handed over to be crucified

· Matt 27:28 – stripped naked, crown of thorns, reed in hand, mocked and humiliated

· Matt 27:35 – crucified

· Matt 27:37 – one last mockery: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS

· Even as He hung there:

Matthew 27:39–44 NIV

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

John 19:28 HCSB

After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, He said, “I’m thirsty!”

· EVERYTHING was accomplished

Death and Burial

Luke 23:50–53 NIV

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.

· And so the kiss of death given by the betrayer, Judas, had its final result – the life of Jesus Christ was over.

· But wait!

God’s Kiss of Life

Luke 24:1–6 NIV

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

· Grave clothes left. Napkin about his head left. EVERYTHING, every vestage of his earthly life was left in the grave.

He HAD to do it

Luke 24:26 NIV

Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

· He had to suffer AND THEN enter his glory

· Why?

· So that he could give us the kiss of life, just as God gave him the kiss of life and delivered him from grave and the effects of his earthly life

He Suffered as We did So he can Help Us

Hebrews 2:18 HCSB

For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested.

· He has suffered what we suffer

Romans 8:34 NIV

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

· He intercedes for us – no one can condemn us, because HE died AND HAS BEEN RAISED

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