Malchus the servant of the High Priest
Over the last three months I had some temporary diminishment in my ability to hear in my left ear. At first I did not notice because it was so gradual. However I did notice that when speaking on the phone I had to switch to my right ear. It turned out to be ear wax. When I went to the doctor’s office, very little sound was making it into my left ear. Though when I listened with both ears, I did not notice much of a change… I became acclimated to it. That is until the wax was cleared out. Don’t know why I get so much of it; I don’t put anything in my ear to pack it down. The Doctor told me that it happens to some people. So when I left the office I did notice that even with my right ear working, I was hearing much less before they cleaned me out, there was now a newness and freshness to the sounds around me. I can take hearing for granted, and when it slowly lessens I can easily take it as normal. For a time now, I have not taken my hearing for granted and am grateful for it.
In the scene where Jesus was arrested, there is a drama that took place that may often be overlooked. It is about ‘Malchus’ the servant of the High Priest. He was with the group of men who came at night to arrest Jesus. Malchus most likely thought Jesus a rabble-rouser, since he ‘heard’ all that went on in the High Priest home and probably heard the stories that they related about him. So he was a criminal and a danger to the safety of the nation of Israel. He was probably angry at Jesus and happy when they found him in the garden. He heard all about him, had no other source of information, and so he took it for granted that it was all true.
Until…
Yes, until indeed. In the confusion and anger on both sides of the divide, just after Jesus was betrayed by Judas who was one of his own, Peter being hotheaded took out his sword and cut off Malthus’s ear. It was probably hanging by some shreds of flesh. Without warning a flash of pain, blood and complete confusion for Malchus over what just happened to him; there was no way for him to prepare for such an event. He probably did not see the strike coming. Suddenly he was alone with his pain and fear. Back then infection killed many from any kind of a wound. Suddenly, perhaps time stopped for him, as the hand of Jesus came out and gently healed him. Perhaps Malchus saw into his eyes, the compassion and the love present in Jesus’ healing gesture. I would imagine that no one even noticed what happened to Malchus, but for Malchus the Universe flipped. They left; I would think he was left behind with this sudden turn of events in his life.
I would think it was sort of like the experience of St. Paul, when he had as Saul his experience on the road to Damascus. From one moment to the next there was a transformation in understanding who Jesus was. So with Malchus, who had to deal with his healing, undeserved yet real none-the-less, on his own for who in his circle could he go to? Surely this was not the act of a rabble-rouser nor from one who was a threat to Israel?
Like Malchus we hear all kinds of information, gossip and outright lies everyday, yet if we do not discern, we can fall into believing what is true, which is in fact not. How do we hear, how do we interpret what we hear? Our perspective comes from where we are rooted. Sometimes we are uprooted and planted somewhere else by God’s grace. This happens more than we know; people just do not talk about it. When God steps in and changes everything, it can be very difficult to explain to those who have not had that experience of God’s grace on such a profound level.
A mystical experience where Jesus breaks through suddenly into ones life, or a dream, or perhaps a ‘Near Death Experience’ like Eben Alexander’s, that made him listen to life and its meaning on a different more profound level. Suddenly what was thought impossible or foolish became a reality, so concrete that all of Eben’s inner world was thrown up in the air and has still not completely landed. However in cases like this, Humpty Dumpty is actually put back together, but in a different more expanded way. Not often liked by everyone, for new and improved is not always easy to deal with. We have to learn to see and listen differently with them. If we cannot, it is our loss.
I can think I am hearing but it can be a mere habit of being, blind, narrow and confining. Trapping me in a narrow way of seeing reality, not knowing I am backed into a corner. Both those who believe in God and those who do not, can easily fall into that trap that is seen as reality as we think we know it.
As I age I am listening differently than when younger. I now know that I have few years left. Even if I live another 25 years, I will then be 90; they will pass by like a weekend. So yes I know I am approaching a new beginning we call death. What do I cling to now that I understand that I am very close to the cliff’s edge? I cling to what is important. Love of others, friendship, and yes to my relationship with a love that is Infinite and revealed to me in Christ Jesus. It also reveals to me the dignity of all those I meet. For did not Jesus reveal that how we treat and love others, or not, is in fact being done to Our Lord. All things pass, yet love is eternal. The greatest spiritual gift is ‘Love” as stated in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians. Yes I often fail, but I am not discouraged, for grace draws good out of my struggles. It is quite a journey, a common journey, for we are pilgrims after all.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
