It’s a tender moment of loving forgiveness amidst an unforgivable melee of unwarranted savagery.

When the cruel and ruthless Temple guards come to arrest our Lord in the peace-filled Garden of Gethsemane, after receiving that fateful kiss upon the cheek from Judas, violence erupts as ignoble hands try to take hold of Jesus. And amidst the brutal chaos and commotion that ensued, a member of the arresting mob, Malchus, has his ear cut off by a defending sword.

Ironically, as Malchus drops to his knees – stunned and perplexed by this sudden bloody and painful wounding – Christ moves seemingly free through the rabble of ferocious savagery, lays His hands upon Malchus and miraculously restores the bloody and painful mess of this enemy’s severed ear!

It’s a tender moment of loving forgiveness amidst an unforgivable melee of unwarranted savagery.

Fr. John