(6 p m ‘Thursday’ to 6 p m Friday)
LESSON 7: Jesus arrested
April 16, 2010
Reading for today:
Matthew 26:47-56
Mark 14:43-52
Luke 22: 47-53
John 18:2-12
Jesus betrayed by Judas
Jesus arrested
Peter cut off the right ear of the High Priest’s servant (Malchus)
(Caiaphas was the high priest)
Jesus touched the high priest’s servant’s ear and healed him
All of the disciples desert him
Young man who was following Jesus fled naked
It’s preposterous, actually – that the King of Glory, The LORD GOD incarnate of heaven was arrested by arrogant men – men who came with swords and clubs and ropes and righteous indignation – believing to the core that they were ridding the world of a man who perverted their Torah – their laws. Or at least that is what they convinced themselves of in their fear and fury. Yes, fear. They were afraid of ‘rocking the boat’ and Jesus was certainly rocking the boat. The Jews feared the Romans – and feared for their tenuously-held positions. The bottom line was greed…well, that and self-preservation. Making self more important than what God is doing is always a recipe for disaster. Their fear was inflated by their fury, and led to false accusations and false arrest.
It hurts that Jesus was betrayed with a kiss…an intimate betrayal. And that his betrayer – the one who lied about Him and was instrumental in being the catalyst for bringing wrath upon Him – was one of His selected, chosen twelve. One of The Twelve. A title of distinction. Discarded for thirty pieces of silver…. And, even in that moment, Jesus calls him ‘friend.’ With friends like that…. Well, you know the phrase….
And then Peter – our dear, impetuous Peter – cuts off the ear of the High Priest’s servant, Malchus. It must have been quite a scene: this large contingent sent out by the Chief Priests, Teachers of the Law, and the elders. They came with the clout of prestigious backing. They came forcefully, with swords and clubs, as if to quell some sort of malicious insurrection. So – with a fairly formidable foe to fight – Peter, against all odds, draws his sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant. In the cover of night, very few probably even saw it happen – or the logical response would have been swift and violent. But Jesus saw – and simply healed the man’s ear. No fanfare – no last-minute object lesson of His power and deity. Just tenderly touches Malchus and heals his ear…then cautions Peter that ‘all who live by the sword will die by the sword’ – something He had just averted, obviously, with his tampering with the evidence of Peter’s crime.
That story has always touched me. It somehow went unnoticed by the contingent of men who came to arrest Jesus – but I do wonder what effect it had on Malchus. Here he is with this detachment sent to arrest this awful man – an awful man who just put his ear back on….
I wonder if he remained silent.
The words of an old, old song from my childhood years come quickly to mind: “…I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song…. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed. Redeemed. His child and forever I am.” I am incredibly grateful for that redeeming love. For Jesus paying the price required to purchase salvation. He could have chosen not to go through with the plan.
Matthew records Jesus as saying, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”
In the moment of his arrest, as Jesus was bound, all of the disciples fled – one slipping out of his clothing and running off into the night naked. And the detachment brought out by Judas Iscariot, their path of treachery lit by lanterns and torches, led Jesus back from the grove at the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives – back across the Kidron Valley, and back into the city. It was not long after the midnight hour – the darkest time of the night. A period of darkness like no other ever had been before that night….
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