While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, "Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And he touched his ear and healed him. (Luke 22:47-51)John records the name of the servant as Malchus and that it was Peter who lopped of his ear (John 18:10). Here was a man among those that came out to seize Jesus, a band of men set on doing something evil by the dark of the night so that their deeds would not be seen. He was just a servant though, so his participation was perhaps not voluntary.
Regardless, Jesus in His last miraculous act before the cross, rebukes one of His own disciples, perhaps the “leader” of the apostles, for striking a man with a sword and heals that man on the spot. What Peter did seems logical to us. He was armed and his Master, a truly innocent man, was about to be unjustly arrested and in that day and age a person who was arrested was likely going to end up badly. Knowing how often the religious authorities had tried to harm Christ, it was obvious how this would end. If Jesus was arrested, He was a dead man so Peter did what only seems right, even noble perhaps. He attacks in a doomed attempt to defend His Lord. Once again Jesus rebukes Him by exclaiming “No more of this”, reminiscent of when He said “Get behind me Satan” to Peter.
What are your thoughts? Is there significance to this event that we can apply today?
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