A kiss could express affection, family relationship, friendship, respect, or welcome in the ancient world. Its meaning depended upon context rather than functioning as one universal greeting for every visitor.
Greetings carried social meaning throughout Jewish and wider Mediterranean society. The form of greeting could acknowledge an existing relationship and publicly communicate goodwill or respect.
Relatives and close associates meeting after separation might embrace or kiss. Other visitors could receive verbal greetings and different signs of respect according to familiarity and status.
Greetings themselves leave little direct archaeological evidence. Their reconstruction depends mainly upon literary and artistic evidence from the ancient Mediterranean world.
Biblical and early Christian texts contain numerous examples of people greeting, embracing, and kissing relatives, friends, leaders, and fellow believers.
Scripture describes kisses in family reunions, friendship, affection, respect, betrayal, and greeting, showing that the gesture could carry different meanings.
In Luke 7:45 Jesus tells Simon, "You gave me no kiss," contrasting the host's reception with the woman who repeatedly kissed His feet. Judas later uses a kiss as the signal by which Jesus is betrayed.
Kissing was one recognized form of greeting and social expression in Jewish and Mediterranean culture.
It should not be assumed that every guest in every household was expected to receive a kiss in precisely the same manner.
Understanding the social meaning of greeting helps readers appreciate both Simon's cool reception of Jesus and the disturbing irony of Judas using a familiar gesture as an act of betrayal.