When the mob came for Jesus, Peter “drew his sword and smote the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. Then Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword in its sheath: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword.’ Then He touched Malchus’ ear and healed him.”
I can only imagine how, Malchus (whose name means “kingdom” - a pawn of the kingdom of the devil), kept touching his right ear afterwards and examining it in a mirror. As the servant of the high priest, he would have been at Jesus’ inquisition and watched the mockery. He would have seen them blindfold Jesus, strike Him on the face and laugh, saying “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you!” What a contrast that must have been to Jesus’ kindness! His new ear would have heard Caiaphas put Jesus under oath: “I adjure you by the living God, are you the Messiah?” – and Jesus’ answer: “I Am: and you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of Heaven!”
Jesus didn’t pick up Malchus’ old ear. He touched him and gave him a new one. As we see the mob coming for Jesus, many have ears that refuse to hear Jesus’ loving invitation to eternal life. Some only function with one ear because the other has already been hacked off. But perhaps one touch of loving-kindness, in this atmosphere of anger and hatred, in Christlike love for their souls, will be the miracle that produces …
An ear that will hear.
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