By Bill Crowder

Do you love surprises? Sometimes surprises are wonderful and thrilling—like the person who works hard at her job with no expectation of reward or recognition but is surprised with a coveted promotion. What a great surprise!

There are other times, however, when surprises can be heartbreaking and even terrifying—like the person who goes in for a routine health checkup feeling great, only to hear the doctor say that there are some serious health problems that need to be addressed. This is, perhaps, one of the worst kinds of surprises.

Surprises abound in the moments surrounding the passion of our Lord, and their impact on the people involved was quite powerful. And of all the people surprised by the events that would occur as Christ suffered and died for the sins of the world, I would argue that among those most surprised was Malchus.

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We see Malchus in what could be described as the trigger for all of the events that would follow—the arrest of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Malchus’ story appears in all four of the Gospels (Matthew 26:51–54; Mark 14:47–50; Luke 22:47–53; John 18:10–12), but only the apostle John names him. Each of the gospel records refers to him as the servant or slave of the high priest.

And now Malchus was on his way to Christ’s garden of prayer to try to capture the One who had come to free men’s souls. Malchus’ encounter with Christ would also be marked by the experience of pain—but not at the hands of Jesus. Rather, his pain came at the hands of one of Jesus’ men.

“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.” (John 18:10)

Simon, the most impulsive of the disciples, steps out of the fearful band of Christ-followers and swings his sword. One Bible teacher said that it is obvious that Peter was a fisherman and not a soldier, because he undoubtedly was swinging for Malchus’ head and missed—getting only an ear.

For Malchus, it was a moment of sheer terror. Standing at the head of a small army, he went from a position of power to a condition of agony in a split second. What would happen to him? Would he bleed to death? Would he survive? For the servant of the high priest, an event full of surprises has evolved into a real shock.

“But Jesus answered and said, ‘Stop! No more of this.’ And He touched his ear and healed him.” (Luke 22:51)

James Montgomery Boice says, “Surely the greatest truth of this incident is that Jesus was here showing mercy even to his enemies, and this even at the time they came to thrust him toward his execution.”

I can only begin to imagine the confusion this rapid-fire series of events must have caused in the heart and mind of this poor servant, Malchus. He was completely and thoroughly unprepared for these events! Attacked by a fisherman? Healed by the man he had come to arrest? How could he even begin to process these things?

The event must have set Malchus’ mind spinning. How could someone I was trying to harm show such compassion to me? Who is this Jesus after all? He needed to understand who this person that he had come to arrest was, this one who had healed him.

This man who had lost his ear would, upon his miraculous healing at Christ’s hand, be exposed to extraordinary truth about the Savior.

* * *

For the rest of his life, Malchus wore on the right side of his head the proof of an encounter with the God-man. For the rest of his life, whenever he heard the name of Jesus, his hand must have unconsciously moved to touch that restored right ear. For the rest of his life, he would be unable to deny the love and care that he had experienced in what one poet called “the touch of the Master’s hand.” For the rest of his life, he bore the evidence of the greatest surprise he would ever experience.

I would suggest that if we are honest enough with ourselves about our true nature, God’s expressions of love and care for us should surprise us as well.

Paul reminds us, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“While we were yet sinners” . . . Now that is a surprise.

Excerpted and adapted from Windows on Easter by Bill Crowder, published by Our Daily Bread Publishing

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