Monday, April 6, 2009

The Mangled Ear of a Man Named Malchus

My grandfather’s finger was a reminder to us all. His ring finger was shorter than his pinky. He wasn’t born that way but had lost one joint of the finger in a shooting accident. When he was in his late eighties, crows had become a nuisance to him and a threat to his crop of grapes. So he hid under the grape arbor as he poked the barrel of a sawed-off .410 gauge shotgun through the vines to take aim at the offensive critters. His left hand, the ring finger to be exact, was over the barrel as the gun discharged. The aftermath left a dangling, and horribly mangled, finger. The surgeon at the hospital reattached the damaged digit, minus the second joint. It resulted in the strangest looking ring finger I have ever seen. Every time I saw him afterwards, the finger served as a reminder that he should have been more aware of the potential power of life and death choices. Choices have consequences. I heard that Daddy hid his gun after that episode!
An encounter with Christ leaves a mark on a person. I am amazed at how some Christians cannot tell you how Christ has changed their lives. They will claim to have met Him, but their lives remain basically the same as before. It doesn’t seem as though Christ has made a serious impact. Then there are some people who are never the same after a Christ encounter. They are constantly reminded of the power and mystery that surrounds the episode and they continually tell the story to others. Sometimes it is in the aftermath of some affliction, some terrible trial that caused them to stop and consider the claims of Christ. Today’s passage is scripture heavy so let us get to reading two accounts of the same event recorded for us in two of the Gospels. It was the night before the crucifixion, just after Jesus had prayed in the Garden, and He was talking with His disciples about their need to pray to escape temptation. Hear now the word of the Lord.

While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber? While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”
Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance. After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them. And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, “This man was with Him too. But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” A little later, another saw him and said, “You are one of them too!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, “Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:47-62)

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Therefore He again asked them, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” to fulfill the word which He spoke, “Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”
Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.
Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. Then the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.
The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.” When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?” So Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed. (John 18:1-27)


The mangled ear of Malchus reminds us that we live and die by the choices we make.

The mangled ear of a man named Malchus reminds us of...

I. ...SOMEONE’S BETRAYAL.
…the one called Judas, one of the twelve…approached Jesus to kiss Him.Judas… who was betraying Him… knew the place…
Where is the source of human betrayal? You can find the roots of this thing called betrayal already growing in the beginning of human history in the Garden that God made. Adam and Eve chose to exchange the good desires of God by listening to the voice of another and acting upon their own desires. The Bible tells us that Eve was deceived with the lie of the serpent in that she actually believed that the tree she was tempted to eat from was desirable to make her wise. She acted upon that desire. She wanted to please herself. Adam wanted to please Eve. Where was the root of this evil? It was in the garden with them. Rooted in this Ancient Serpent was the desire to be like God. The desire to act independently of God and treat God as irrelevant was found in the heart of the serpent. The root of sin was implanted in the human family because of a choice that these two made. The word that is translated serpent is also used for “shining one.” Whatever Eve was confronted with was not a slithering and repulsive snake. Lucifer, created by Almighty God to be the leader of worship in Heaven wanted to be the object of worship. He was not content with God’s desire. So this angelic creature acted upon his desires. He betrayed his Creator. We do what we do because we want what we want. We live and die by the choices we make.
Why did Judas choose to betray Jesus? Some people think he never had a choice. While it is true that one of these disciples would have betrayed Jesus, it was something in the heart of this one that made him susceptible. For some reason, he wanted to betray Jesus. Ask anyone who has ever betrayed the trust of another, and if they are honest, they will tell you that it was because they wanted something. It was because of some selfish desire. This selfishness isolates a person. It is not good for man to be alone. We read that Judas was “one of the twelve.” There is a difference between being one “of the twelve” and being one “with the twelve.” Here is a danger for us. When we are isolated because of our desires we are susceptible to being a traitor. Ask the husband whose wife has been unfaithful how closed off she became to him. Ask the wife whose husband was arrested for embezzling money from the company he worked for how distant he became. We live and die by the choices we make. Ask God who it is that is ultimately betrayed when people betray one another. Have you ever chosen to betray the trust of God? You cannot live with that choice. Repentance is the wise course of action. Forgiveness brings life to the dead.
Judas could not live with his choice. Isn’t it interesting that the scene of the severing of Malchus’ ear was in a garden? The treachery of Judas collides with Peter’s violent act. Sin begets sin. Judas knew the place. It was a place where Jesus often went to pray. The Second Adam was in community with His Father in a garden. Judas chose to deliberately undermine God’s work in Christ. The Bible says he regretted but did not repent. He went out and took his own life. The mangled ear of Malchus is our reminder that a person can become so isolated from other people of God and can become so very twisted in their thinking and they act on their own sinful desires. Sin is spiritual treason. Treason is a crime that promises death. We cannot live with the choice to sin against God and one another.

The mangled ear of a man named Malchus reminds us of...

II. ...SOMEONE’S DENIAL.
…Peter was following at a distance…
…The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord…
What was it that the Lord said that Peter remembered? Specifically, we find the exchange earlier in Luke 22:31 and following: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; During this conversation Peter claimed that he was willing to go to prison or even die with Jesus. To which Jesus responded: I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.
We see in the text at this point that Peter followed at a distance. Peter discovered that when we choose to increase the distance between us and God, it becomes easier to deny Him.
Why is it that we choose to deny Christ at critical times in our lives? There is a fear factor. Over and over in God’s message to His people is “Fear not…I am with you.” The closer the gap between God and man, the more courageous a human becomes. The greater the distance, the more we deny. Peter’s fear of man was greater than His fear of God. Distance can do that. How is it possible that one so close to Jesus could become so distant from Him? The same way it can happen for us. We can slow down so much in our following that we can fall far, far away. I am reminded that the Prodigal Son left the influence of his father and wound up in the “far country”. Can you ever get so far away that you think God doesn’t notice? Does He ever forget us? Is His eye still upon us?
God sends His people reminders of the distance in our following. In giving Peter reminders, the Bible lets us know God remembered him. In our lives, we are confronted with reminders as well. At the age of 12 years old, I was baptized into the Christian faith and I desired to follow Christ closely. Then as a teenager, I began to put some distance between me and God. And I lived and died in the far country for many, many years. God kept sending me reminders of where I was and where He was. One such reminder was when my granddaddy asked me to come to church one Sunday. It was a special day where he was asked to preach in the church where my mama had grown up. They were having a meal afterwards and I went for the food and to get him off my back. I was living such a godless life at that time, I felt extremely out of place. I couldn’t wait for the end of the sermon. Then my granddaddy called for all who had ever worn the name of Christ to come to the altar and pray for God to move in the hearts of that church family. I stayed in my seat. But I heard that reminder. I was deceived to think that I was too far away from God for Him to reach me. I believed that I was too far away for Him to notice me. God never forsakes His own. He relentlessly pursues us. He never stops looking.
The Lord…looked at Peter. And He continued to look. The Lord continues to look my way. He is the God who restores. God saves us to keep us. I have never been able to work my way back into the grace of God. When I repented and returned to follow Him, He restored my life. By the grace of God, I stand before you today. By the grace of God, I have had the opportunity to preach the gospel from that very place where I denied my Lord. I have confessed my denial before men. More importantly, I have confessed it to God. A close walk with God closes the distance. Close the gap today. Come closer to Christ.

The mangled ear of a man named Malchus reminds us of...

III. …SOMEONE’S REFUSAL.
Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.
The High Priest Caiaphas was the right man in place for wrong times. It was against Jewish law that Jesus was tried in the middle of the night. For this to take place it would take the unrighteous actions of an unrighteous man. Caiaphas was God’s man for the madness of the moment. As High Priest he was authorized to bring judgment upon people charged with blasphemy. This was the trumped up charge. And Caiaphas was offering up Jesus as a price to be paid for the nation’s peace with Rome. Political unrest was a serious threat to the priestly temple culture and the occupying Roman government. It’s amazing how God uses the actions of the ungodly to accomplish His godly purposes. Make no mistake about it. The arrest, trial and execution of Jesus was not an aberration. Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, and Caiaphas’ refusal to acknowledge the innocence of the purest life in history was all under the direction of a most righteous and holy God and all in His sovereign plan. But God often leaves a reminder of our wrong choices.
Malchus was the slave of the High Priest Caiaphas. For the days after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, Malchus would have been in close proximity to the High Priest. Malchus was his personal slave. When Caiaphas looked upon him, there was the ear. The mangled ear of Malchus was a symbolic reminder of a confrontation with Christ and the wrong choices that religious people can make. I wonder if the high priest would remember hearing about multiple accounts of Jesus teaching where He ended His discourse with the phrase, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Malchus was no doubt a constant reminder to Caiaphas of the refusal to hear and believe the truth when Truth stood before him. One translator says that the name Caiaphas literally means “depression”. This can be a lesson for us. The quickest route for a human being to become depressed is to refuse to believe the claims of Christ. Unbelief and depression go together.

The mangled ear of a man named Malchus reminds us of...

IV. ...SOMEONE’S RENEWAL.
And He touched his ear and healed him.
Malchus was the last man healed before mankind was healed. Jesus had healed many kinds of chronic afflictions, physical deformities, and leprosy. He had restored sight to the blind and healed those who could not hear or speak. He even raised the dead. But this is the only record of healing a flesh wound. He we see Him intervene after one man chooses to violently damage another man and immediately heal the victim. Here we see Him heal a flesh wound before He is wounded in His flesh to heal mankind’s terminal spiritual affliction. Jesus chose to stop His own arrest and seizure to stop sin’s death grip. Jesus reached out to heal someone who was His enemy by nature. But Malchus had to make a choice, even in the midst of his pain. He had to stop and be still.
Malchus chose to let Jesus touch his mangled ear. We live and die by the choices we make. We can live without an ear. But we cannot live without a touch from Christ. How difficult it must have been for Malchus to focus on the touch of Christ through the searing pain and the flow of blood, in that turbulent and chaotic moment. Malchus learned what we are reminded of today. The touch of Jesus will heal hurts that seem beyond hope. And we must be still...to be healed. Be still and know that He is God.

The mangled ear of a man named Malchus reminds us of...

V. …SOMEONE’S MAJESTY.
So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am (He).”
The name Malchus means kingly, regal, or majestic. And yet he was a slave. This slave king was healed by the Servant King. This last act points to the actions of the Servant King. A few hours away from the excruciating physical and spiritual pain of the cross, He gives those in that dark garden on that dark night a true picture of who He really is. He is a King in ultimate power and control. He is King of all earthly kings, who are at best slaves themselves to God or sin. He is King of all kings and all slaves, including you and me. Let us not forget the one who is described here. This is not some mild mannered Savior who tries to convince us that His way is best. This is a Warrior King who invades the darkness and is in total control of His own destiny and ours. How will you answer this question: “Whom do you seek?” Is it Jesus the Nazarene? Then come today and fall down before Him.
I am, He said. The pronoun He is not in the original text of this passage. I am is what He said. This was the personal name of the Great God Jehovah that He revealed to Moses in preparation of leading His people out of bondage. Tell the Pharaoh that I am has sent you to deliver His people was the message to Moses. That night, this same God was going to deliver His people from bondage. “Whom do you seek?” was the question. You have found Jehovah when you have found Jesus was the answer. More appropriately, Almighty God had found them. When God reveals Himself to humans, there is only one response if we want to live to tell the story.
They drew back and fell to the ground. Consider the crowd that night. A Roman cohort was at least five hundred trained soldiers. The priests, elders, slaves and temple guards (which was no small contingent) showed up with Judas. They brought weapons and torches and lanterns. They came out against Jesus to capture Him. But you don’t capture God. He captures you! He stopped the proceedings long enough to heal the mangled ear of a man named Malchus. This Second Adam did not hide in fear, but charged the crowd and asked the question, Whom do you seek? Pagan soldiers and religious people alike drew back and fell to the ground. Jesus was in total control of everything that happened that night. He is Lord. And He is God. Whom do you seek?
The message today is not as much about the renewal of Malchus, or the betrayal of Judas, or the denial of Peter, or the refusal of Caiaphus as much as it is about absolute authority revealed in the majesty of the King of kings and Lord of lords in the person of Jesus, the Nazarene. If you hear my voice today, know that He has found you. And this is your reminder to come and bow low before the Most High God. Surrender your life and repent of your sin. Believe that His sacrificial death was necessary for you so you could be free to worship this Warrior God. Believe that He was raised from the dead in the power of the Resurrection that testifies that all God has said will be accomplished. Come and follow Jesus. He is the One you seek. And He is the One seeking you.
What is it in your life that reminds you of the grace of God?
What will be your response to Christ today?

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