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51 And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 52 But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" 55 In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. 56 But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. ~ Matthew 26:51-56
Today, we return our study of Matthew 26 where the Lord Jesus is with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, a place they were known to go often to pray. In the darkness of that early Friday morning, in a place with a name which means "oil press," the Lord Jesus was beginning to be squeezed like an olive between two very large stones. It was then that a large crowd came to apprehend Him as if He were guilty of some crime. He was then betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silver.
In v.51 of today's passage we read, "And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear."
According to Luke, Peter cut off the right ear of Malchus the servant of the High Priest. He cut off his ear because Peter was more defined by this world's way of handling conflict than he was defined by the Lord's way of handling conflict. Like you and me, Peter found it much easier to feed the flesh than it is the Spirit of God. We do well to remember that every time we feed the flesh, it will deliver some form of destruction in our lives.
In Luke's gospel, we are told the Lord Jesus healed this servant of the High Priest. After his ear was chopped off, Malchus wasn’t looking to be healed. Even if he thought his ear could be reattached, he most definitely would not have turned to the Lord Jesus for a miracle. Yet, out of love, the Lord Jesus reached out to Malchus and did the impossible in an instant. This was the last healing the Lord Jesus would perform before going to His cross. After this miraculous moment Malchus is never again mentioned in the New Testament.
In the Scriptures, right is always the sign of power and authority, therefore Peter cut off Malchus' right ear. Malchus was what they called the "ears" of the High Priest. Whenever anything happened in Jerusalem, Malchus was right there to report the happenings to the High Priest. At that point, the Lord Jesus reached down, picked up Malchus's ear and put it back on his head. Miraculous! And, I have always wondered why have we no more information about Malchus in the New Testament. This just goes to show, miracles do not always change hardened hearts.
In v.52-53 of today's passage we read, "52 But Jesus said to him, 'Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?'"
The Lord Jesus came not to lead a rebellion, He came to provide forgiveness of sin. His mission was not to condemn but to save by being the truth and speaking the truth and sustaining the truth. And those who are not of the truth refuse to welcome Him as Savior. His ministry inevitably reveals that it is faith that welcomes the forgiveness of God and that it is blindness and unbelief that condemns.
According to Luke's account of this scene, the Lord Jesus said, "My kingdom is not advanced militarily, it is advanced by my grace." The Lord's gracious treatment of all who were there in that garden that early morning underscores this principle of His kingdom. We do not advance the cause of God with any sort of violence, we advance it by proclaiming His grace. The word "legions" is a military term that comes from the Roman army. A legion denoted a group of at least 6,000 Roman soldiers. The Lord Jesus could have called on 12 groups of 6000 angels but He didn't. The Lord Jesus came to introduce us to the most powerful concept in the world, His grace. We access His grace through our weakness. The God of the Bible has always prized weakness. Embracing our weakness is so hard yet so good because it is when we are weak that we discover He is so strong.
In v.54 of today's passage we read, "How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?"
The Lord Jesus was betrayed with a kiss of a friend which led the religious leaders of Israel to arrest Him. This happened as it did in order to fulfill the Scriptures. It was in that very dark hour that the power of darkness was given ultimate power. These events had to be as they were so that all righteousness could be sustained. This led to the fulfillment of many Old Testament passages which galvanize for us that the Lord Jesus is truly the long predicted Messiah of the world. According to John's gospel account, the Lord Jesus identified Himself as "Jesus of Nazareth" to those who were there to apprehend Him. The Old Testament prophecies told us the coming of the Messiah would be of humble origin and He would be despised and rejected. These Old Testament prophecies prepared us for a Messiah who would be of low and despised conditions and would be rejected. These were fully fulfilled in His being an inhabitant of Nazareth.
In v.55-56 of today's text we read, "55 In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, 'Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.' 56 "But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled."
Every detail of this narrative happened as it did in order to reveal the utter sovereignty and grace of God. It had to be that everyone abandoned the Lord Jesus that day so that it could be shown that He is the only One who could withstand the onslaughts of evil in all of its forms. No mere human could withstand such pressure. It was necessary that He was abandoned for He alone solved our sin and death problem. The ear of God was closed to the Lord Jesus for a short time so that it might be open to us forever. It was the Lord Jesus who took on all our sins as the predicted perfect Lamb of God.
