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.
Luke 22:47-51 (NASB)
Sometimes I have questions from my Bible reading that just won’t go away; today’s post is proof of that, and eventually, I have to do something with the questions. I have been pondering about Malchus for months; he was a servant of Caiaphas (the high priest), who went with the mob to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is just enough information given by this man in the four gospels to make a reader of the Bible more curious; who was he and where did he go after his only appearance?
There is a similarity between Malchus and Simon of Cyrene; there is very little information about them in scripture, in fact, there is less information about Malchus. The only references that apply to him are found in Matthew 26:51-52, Mark 14:46-47, Luke 22:47-51 and John 18:10-11. Effectively Malchus like Simon is a small character in the gospel story, but I believe they are both named with reason. They are both named because they are known by the writers and those that the writers wrote to; which suggests that their story continues – that both come to have faith in and serve Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior. There is some scriptural evidence pointing to this possibly being the case for Simon, but no such evidence for Malchus.
Dear Reader, can you imagine the scene in Gethsemane on that dark morning? Jesus has just returned from painful solitary prayer to find the disciples dozing in the grass under the olive bows, just then a row of flickering torches appears through the gloom, approaches, and surrounds the small group. Judas steps forward and kisses the Lord, and the armed party of soldiers and temple guards move forward to seize Jesus – suddenly swords are drawn and Peter lunges at a guard and misses, still severing Malchus’ear, and blood gushes as tempers flair. Before all are arrested Jesus steps forward, and gently holds Malchus’ head in His hands, and looks silently into his eyes before whispering a short prayer and releasing the man. There are gasps as all see no blood or injury in the light of the torches, and Malchus sitting peacefully gazing at the man he had come to arrest. Suddenly the purpose of the evening was remembered as the Lord was bound and led away roughly, and the disciples scatter. As I see it, Malchus is left alone in the darkening clearing, feeling his ear as if nothing had happened to it – but he feels differently now. These are my imaginative thoughts, further still, what became of Malchus afterward? I like to believe that his life changed in a big way, as he became a disciple of his new Lord and Saviour. What do you think?
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Devotional Treasures
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