08.11 | Malchus
John 18:1-27
‘Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)’
John 18:10
One of the things I hope for in eternity is to meet some of the minor characters from the Bible.
I’d like to meet Eutychus, who fell asleep listening to Paul, fell from a high window, and was raised from the dead. I’d like to meet Bartimaeus, and hear firsthand the story of his sight being restored. I’d like to meet the guy who loaned Jesus his donkey for Palm Sunday, and whoever it was who prepared the room for the Last Supper. I’d like to meet Methuselah and ask him what he did on his 967th birthday, and Beniah and ask him what outback circumstances led to him finding himself in a pit with a lion on a snowy day.
And I’d like to meet Malchus, who we meet (again) today. His only act in the Bible is to have his ear cut off, and then have it healed again. He doesn’t say anything, or do anything else. His fame in global history all comes down to this moment. He's the guy who looses—and then regains—an ear.
It's a tiny detail in an otherwise familiar story. It doesn’t seem of any particular significance.
And yet, Malchus appears in all four gospel accounts—putting this moment in company with only a small number of other events that are also included across all Gospels.1 As each Gospel author carefully selected what they saw as the crucial details from the life of Jesus, all of them saw the story of Malchus and his severed ear as worthy of inclusion.
Why?
Certainly it speaks to the character of Jesus—that in His moment of betrayal and arrest, He is still loving, healing, and restoring, even among the mob who has gathered to lead Him to His death.
Certainly it speaks to the solutions of Jesus—that as His disciples begin to draw swords, looking to bring about His reign through military force, the methodology of Jesus for the establishment of His reign is so different. They draw swords; He heals. They draw swords, He surrenders. They draw swords, He goes to a cross.
And yet, there may be a little something deeper here too in the significance of Malchus. Because we’re given a few details about his life.
Malchus is the servant of the high priest.
Malchus’ name means king.
Malchus has his right ear cut off, and then restored.
Minor details, it seems. And yet, none of them lost in the precise economy of God to communicate cosmic truths through the smallest details.
The two roles of particular significance in the Old Testament were those of the high priest and the king. Both were anointed for their roles. Both enabled God’s reign in and through His people.
As the priesthood was begun, the high priest underwent a particular ceremony. And this ceremony included the marking of the right ear of the high priest with blood.2
No tiny detail is missed in the Story of God.
For in the garden of Gethsemane, that severed ear pre-empts the events of the Golgotha day to come. For on that cross, ancient things are being ended, and new things are being established. The old ways —of imperfect kings and corrupt priesthoods, of partial sacrifices and an enslaved humanity, of temple and law and sin and death—are being cut off unto the establishment of a new order. A new anointing. A new priesthood. A new kingdom. A new King. Every story of the Old Testament culminating on this Messiah Jesus, bringing His perfected wholeness into the new order that He is bringing in.
Reflect:
Come to Jesus afresh today. He is the priest who dismisses your shame and releases heavenly blessing upon you. He is the King whose reign leads you to life. And He is the Lord who, in the dark gardens of pain and violence, stretches out healing hands to touch our bleeding places with the healing love that can truly mend all things.
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
Touch my life.
I have known pain and I have known violence,
And it has disfigured my soul.
Lord Jesus,
My High Priest,
Touch my shame, my woundings, and every work of death in me,
That I may be restored in the perfect love of the Father,
And the endless blessings you pronounce.
Lord Jesus,
My eternal King,
Establish me under your reign,
With your Kingdom
Invading all parts of this life,
Unto the overflow into the world around.
Lord Jesus,
Touch this life,
That in dark gardens and hillsides of grief,
Your fresh anointing of healing life
May tell the greater story.
In Your Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Ezekiel 19-20 | Proverbs 27:18-22
Including the ministry of John the Baptist, the feeding of the 5000, the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the temple, Peter’s denial, and the major events surrounding the cross and resurrection.
Leviticus 8:23