An Easter Story: Malchus, the sword and the slashed ear

THERE’S a character in the Bible’s ‘Easter’ story which has always intrigued me.

I would loved to have known his frame of mind and thoughts on his way to the Garden of Gethsemane as part of a troop to arrest Jesus, and then his thoughts on the way back.

The guy in question is the lesser-mentioned Malchus.

All four gospel writers mention him, although details are not exactly the same. No contradictions, just not exactly the same.

In case you are wondering who on earth this bloke was, he was the servant of the high priest.

At the time there was a lot going on in Jerusalem.

Jesus was preaching, healing the sick, causing cripples to walk, blind people to see, driving out demons, walking on water, turning water into wine, calming storms, feeding crowds, raising the dead…. I could go on, you get the picture.

Two groups of people did not like this too much.

The Jews (Pharisees mainly) in power were seriously threatened by Jesus. The crowds loved Jesus and followed him in multitudes.

The Pharisees absolutely hated this. So much so that they wanted him out of the picture.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN : Go easy on the roads this Easter

Now the Romans, who occupied Jerusalem at the time, had no real interest in the religious side of things, but Pilate and Co were growing increasingly concerned about the threat of riots, revolts and unrest.

Jesus was becoming a major problem for them. Maybe they thought he could walk among an army rebelling against Rome, healing wounded fighters with a touch.

How could any army win that kind of battle?

So with this all in mind, the two groups basically conspired with the help of Judas, to get rid of Jesus.

At the time of the Passover a motley crew of Pharisees, soldiers and servants (plus Judas) headed for the Garden of Gethsemane at night to find Jesus.

Malchus was among this mob. They obviously anticipated a fight, as they were armed with clubs and swords and such things.

Anyway, to get to the point, Jesus’ number 1 disciple, Peter, could not believe that this was all going down.

Known to be somewhat impulsive, he lashed out at Malchus and sliced off his right ear.

Perhaps he had meant to slash him across the head, maybe Malchus swerved … and Peter got only his ear.

Whatever the case, Jesus quickly reprimanded Peter, and then just as quickly healed Malchus’s ear. Good as new.

What an astonishing thing to happen!

Here’s my point: Malchus had in all likelihood been privy to and affected by the poison spewed forth by the high priest.

You could hardly blame him.

Now, in arguably his most stressful moment in his life, Jesus, the man who this crowd wanted dead, stood up for him and healed his ear!

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN : Travel safely this Easter: Car safety tips for your littlest passengers

Surely, that must have been the point at which his life was changed forever, that he had seen for himself that Christ was truly the Messiah, as He had said.

The Bible doesn’t record what became of Malchus, but my guess is that he probably thought: “High priest Caiaphas, with all due respect, I think you have all got it horribly wrong.”

HAVE YOUR SAY

Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram