“Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” “I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” He did this to fulfil his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.” Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”“
John 18:7-11 NLT
Malchus, the High Priest’s slave, makes a cameo appearance in the Biblical account, and he had the dubious experience of an encounter with Peter’s sword. Peter, good old impetuous Peter, once again acted without thinking. Standing before Jesus and His friends was a heavily armed contingent of Roman soldiers, armour and swords clanking, gruff voices speaking a foreign tongue, and with them was the Temple guards and others, and yet Peter thought he could make a difference with his sword. Luke’s account of this episode reveals more details. In Luke 22:49-50 we read, “When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!” And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear”. The next verse records that Jesus healed the man with the “ear-ing” loss and then in Mark’s Gospel we read, “Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked” (Mark 14:50-52). Altogether the arrest of Jesus had the potential to turn into an ugly situation with the arrest of His disciples as well as Jesus, but the Master was in charge, and His friends, the disciples were kept safe. We don’t know who the naked young man was but the accounts in the Gospels kept him nameless and saved his blushes.
Jesus knew that He had the power to prevent His arrest, but His mission was not about His personal safety. Instead, it was about the salvation of the world, and we 21st Century pilgrims are and will be eternally grateful. But I wonder what the experience did for Malchus. He was in the firing line of a sword coming for him in then dark. He felt the sharp pain as his right ear was severed from the side of his head, and in the commotion the Man who they had been sent to arrest calmly took control of the situation and healed his ear. The pain of loss and injury was suddenly removed and I expect he raised his hand to feel if his ear had been restored. We don’t know if Jesus stooped down and picked up the ear off the ground and put it back in its rightful place, or if He just touched the place where it had been and miraculously grew another one, but regardless, Malchus was ear-less no more. He must have reflected much on what had happened. Did it lead to his belief and faith in Jesus? We don’t know, but perhaps we will get to find out one day.
Dear Lord Jesus. You are the Healer of body, soul and spirit. But we praise and thank You for the ultimate miracle – our salvation. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 