His name was Malchus. He was the servant of the High Priest and in that position, he was privy to some pretty powerful events. He heard the discussions of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of Israel. He saw the inner workings of the office of the High Priest - he likely was a part of the discussions of how to get rid of Jesus. He probably was a part of paying Judas off with silver to betray Jesus. We know he was there in the Garden of Gethsemane when they arrested Jesus. That is where he went from the background to center stage. Peter cut off his ear (John 18:10).
I don't think Peter was aiming for his ear. I think he was either aiming to give Malchus a splitting headache or take is head off all together. Peter was a fisherman, not a swordsman. He missed, badly. Jesus rebuked him and basically told him to 'put that thing away before you hurt someone.' Then Jesus healed Malchus. I wonder what Malchus thought in that moment?
Here, all these men with all this aggression, had come to arrest Jesus. There was chaos and shouting. Suddenly there is a flash of a blade and searing, unbelievable pain and blood flowing down all over Malchus. Then there is Jesus, looking him in the face, touching his ear and the pain is gone and his ear is whole. In all this storm, Malchus gets pulled into the eye of the storm where Jesus is and where there is peace. I wonder what happened then for Malchus?
A couple of things speak to me about this story. First, Peter was trying to defend his Lord. But he was doing it from his own strength and by his own way. It failed miserably. Are there times we need to take a stand as followers of Jesus? Are their times we need to rise up against those in authority when they are doing wrong? Yes, there are those times and the possibility of more of those times seems to be increasing in our day. But we must do things Jesus' way. He never advocated violence or striking out in anger. He would take his stand before the Sanhedrin that day and he gives us an example of how to take a stand in our day.
I think there may be a message in Malchus' ear for us. When we stand for the cause of Christ but we do it in the anger of our own strength, we cut off the way people could hear - if they are willing. There are a lot of "Malchuses" out there wounded by angry Christians and they have a real hard time hearing us. What is the right way? Peter, even Peter, gives a good example later. He too is brought before the Sanhedrin, the very men who sentenced Jesus to die. But this time he is not angry nor does he bring a sword. He stands boldly in the power of Jesus and proclaims the truth of Jesus and then there is this powerful statement from Luke, "When they (the Sanhedrin) saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus" Acts 4:12. He stood Jesus' way and they were astonished.
Was Malchus there that day? We don't see his name but there is a good probability he was. He saw Peter in a whole new light if he was. That brings me to the second, final thought. Only in the Gospel of John, written years after to the other gospels, do we see the name of Malchus. Some have speculated that John knew Malchus' name because Malchus had become a part of the church by John's day. No one knows that for sure, but what a testimony Malchus would have had.
Do you have a Malchus in your life? Is he hurting now? Is he still healing? Is he now hearing? Let's not miss the message of Malchus' ear.
for the journey...
Tim
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