Put Your Sword Down
The gospels record a rather exciting story about a man named Malchus and his encounter with Jesus’ disciple, Peter. This story climaxes with Peter cutting off Malchus’ ear.
Imagine Malchus’ day with me. He wakes up at his usual time before sunrise and prepares himself breakfast. After eating, his morning ritual continues with putting on the proper dress for the day and washing his face. He walks down the dusty roads to the Temple so that he can report for work. The work day is filled with menial tasks, and there is a constant buzz as of late of high-tempered murmurings about the heretic rebels that follow this man named Jesus. After his tasks, he goes home and decides to recline and relax after a long day's work. At Midnight there is a banging on his door.
Judas has just betrayed Jesus. They finally have their chance to arrest Him. In the dark of night, Judas leads a march through the woods searching for the rebel troupe. He claims to know the spot they often retreat to. The High priests have gathered a Roman Jewish police outfit to accompany them. The heavy footsteps sound like war drums before battle. His heart beats heavily against his ribs as they draw near a clearing. They have found them: Jesus and the eleven.
As a conversation takes place between Jesus and Judas, a searing heat strikes the right side of his head. There is an intense ringing that mutes all other sounds out. As he reaches for his ear, he only finds an indistinguishable form of flesh pouring blood. Chaos turns still as the rebel Jesus is now holding the bloody side of his face. The pain leaves, and he feels a strange sensation as the ringing ceases. When Jesus removes His hand, he can hear the whispering of the wind through the trees as all stand in silence watching the scene unfold.
As he stares into the whites of Jesus’ eyes, he again reaches for the side of his head. This time he finds his ear whole as though nothing had happened. This was Malchus’ day.
Malchus was going through the motions of his daily routine when everything was turned upside down. In a moment of jealous rage, one of Jesus’ followers had cut off his ear. However, in a moment of jealous love, Jesus miraculously healed and restored his ear.
I find it essential to embrace the adage, “every story has two sides,” to understand this story entirely.
Now let’s look at Peter.
Peter in the gospels is described as a zealot - uncompromisingly radical in his pursuit to follow Jesus. However, during his last meal with Jesus, Peter was told that he would deny Him three times. Imagine the most intensely passionate person you know being told they will utterly reject the very person or thing they are passionate about. Peter gave up everything to follow Jesus, and now He was telling him that he would walk away from it all in shame. I’m sure Peter had a concoction of pride, fear, and anguish rising within his heart that night.
As was usual, they went to a secluded place in the woods so that Jesus could pray. He told the eleven disciples with Him to sit and watch while He went to pray. Jesus pulled aside Peter, James, and John to follow Him - He had a particular assignment for them. As part of Jesus’ inner circle, they would watch guard as He prayed. After a long and intense day filled with many emotions, Peter fell asleep - three separate times. Each time he was woken up by the One he was to watch over.
As the night continues, a mob of armed men come following Judas. As Peter watches one of his friends betray Jesus, he decides to take action into his own hands. He will prove just how loyal he is to Jesus, and he will be the one to save the Savior. He draws his sword and looks to kill. He swings for an inattentive man’s head but miscalculates and chops his ear off. He is determined to show Jesus that he will never deny Him.
The story of Malchus and Peter collide in an episode of violence and resolve in a moment of healing. I believe there are three things to pull from this story.
Unaware of who Jesus is, the sword of zealous devotion has struck some people.
In the pursuit of discipleship, we can often injure others to prove our loyalty and devotion to Jesus.
In the end, we need to live like Jesus. Looking to heal and restore those who have been injured and demonstrate unconditional love to a hurting and broken world.
It’s time to put our sword down and love as Jesus did. In Matthew 26:52, Jesus tells Peter that whoever lives by the sword will die by the sword. Another way of thinking about this is that however you enter something is how you must maintain it, and it is eventually how you will exit it. May we be the ones found living by the love, power, grace, and healing of Jesus Christ.
-- Biblical texts used: Matthew 26, Luke 22, Mark 14, John 18 --
