A Note from DT
Hey HoF Fam,
I was thinking about the angry mob that came to arrest Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane and one of the characters of that story really stuck out to me. Perhaps you will remember a guy named Malchus (John:18:10). He was a servant of the high priest and he showed up with the Roman soldiers and an angry mob sent to arrest Jesus who they considered to be a false teacher. Upon getting to the alleged perpetrator and His small group of friends one of the crew (Simon called Peter) pulls out a sword and takes a wild swing cutting off Malchus’ ear! The craziest thing about this interaction is that Jesus tells His young zealous friend to put down his weapon and then goes on to touch Malchus’ severed ear and miraculously it is healed! (Luke 22:50-51) Think of it, Jesus healed a guy that was coming with evil intentions to arrest Him…selah.
Obviously there was a lot for Malchus to process after Jesus submitted to the mob and went with them back to their corrupt trial. I can only imagine his thought process, “The One I came against didn’t hold my ill intentions against me…He still cared about my physical well being…He healed me, who can do that?…what am I doing here?” The power of Love cannot be stopped. Jesus is so wonderful. His nature is so beautiful. Selah.
As I contemplate this story it also seems so very symbolic to me. Accusation, gossip, slander; these things are absolutely poisonous. They cause people to turn against the very ones they are called to walk with. This one man, Malchus, had been manipulated to think that he was standing for what was right. What he didn’t know was that he was following the voice of the Accuser(Satan) which caused him to be deaf to the Voice of God. His severed ear was actually symbolic of the spiritual state he was in. He listened to accusation and was deaf to the truth. Jesus then reveals Himself to Malchus in a way that only He can, by restoring Malchus’ ability to hear and it is written for us all to see.
Proverbs 18:17 says, The first one to plead his cause seems right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him.
There are so many verses about the divisive power of backbiting, slander, and accusation but this is the one I thought of whilst reading this story today. I have learned that when someone comes to me about an issue with another person that there is often a completely different side of the story and it is best to encourage them to go directly to the one they have an issue with. I will never accept an accusation about another person as truth until I’ve heard from both parties and there is really a goal of restoring the relationship. I would much rather meet up with both of them and help them work it out, otherwise I’ll never want to form an opinion based on accusation.
Malchus learned that the One who he had heard was an enemy was actually someone who loved him even as he sought His execution. That is a mind bender. He had listened to the wrong report!
Household of Faith, what if we as a people flipped the whole thing in reverse? What if we went deaf to the voice of the accuser and only came into agreement with the voice of Love? Maybe this same restorative power demonstrated by Jesus would be seen in His people in a real way. They would recognize us by our love and not by our inconsistency. This is who we are, it is the Way.
-DT