Cutting Off Malchus
There is a grief in my heart when I look at the condition of the church. Not because the Bride of Christ is weak or powerless. Not because the gospel has lost its authority. Not because the Spirit has stopped moving. The grief comes because we have become divided. We have built walls instead of tables. We have cut one another off instead of seeking restoration. We have chosen the path of isolation over the path of reconciliation. And I hear the words of Jesus echoing over His body. That they may be one as We are one.
When I read the story of Peter in the garden I cannot get away from it. Soldiers come to arrest Jesus. Fear rises. Confusion swirls. Peter does what so many of us do when we are afraid of losing control. He draws his sword. He swings it wildly. He cuts off the ear of Malchus. Peter thought he was defending Jesus. But what he was actually doing was wounding a man. He was shutting off the ability to hear. He was making the very one who needed to hear the words of Jesus deaf to them.
That is the spirit at work in much of the church today. We are still swinging swords. We are cutting off ears. We are wounding people who may have needed to hear. And we do it thinking we are defending Jesus. We do it in the name of purity. We do it in the name of holiness. But the truth is we are not defending Jesus. We are wounding Malchus.
The Sword of Division
Division is always easier than restoration. It is easier to cut someone off than to sit down and wrestle through pain. It is easier to walk away than to listen. It is easier to surround ourselves with people who look like us and sound like us and think like us than to stay at the table with people who hurt us or disagree with us. But the gospel was never meant to be easy. It was meant to be holy.
And holiness is not isolation. Holiness is not building fences. Holiness is love. Love that is patient. Love that is kind. Love that bears all things and endures all things. Love that covers a multitude of sins. Holiness is not swinging a sword. Holiness is healing ears.
Jesus rebuked Peter in that garden. Put your sword away. And then He reached for Malchus. He touched the very place Peter had wounded. He restored what had been cut off. That is what holiness looks like. That is what the church is called to do. Not cut off. Restore. Not isolate. Reconcile.
The Illusion of Protection
Many of us justify our divisions as a form of protection. We tell ourselves that we must guard our families. We must protect our churches. We must defend truth. But what if in defending what we think is truth we are actually shutting off ears from hearing the Truth Himself.
Peter thought his sword was protecting Jesus. But Jesus did not need Peter’s sword. He could have called down legions of angels. The kingdom does not advance through violence. It does not advance through cutting off. It advances through love. It advances through humility. It advances through laying down our lives.
When we divide the body we are not protecting it. We are weakening it. When we cut people off we are not defending holiness. We are making the Bride look fractured. We are telling the world that we cannot love one another. And if we cannot love one another why should they believe that we know the God who is love.
The Way of Restoration
The way of Jesus is always restoration. Think of the leper who was untouchable. Jesus touched him. Think of the tax collector who was despised. Jesus dined with him. Think of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus shielded her from the stones of religious men and said go and sin no more. Restoration was always His way.
The cross itself is the greatest act of restoration. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He did not cut us off. He did not build a wall around heaven. He came to us. He reached for us. He restored us. And if the cross is the center of our faith then restoration must be the center of our relationships.
We cannot claim to be a cross people and still be a sword people. We cannot preach reconciliation with God while living in isolation from one another. The blood that reconciled us to the Father is the same blood that makes us brothers and sisters. To divide the body is to deny the blood.
The Cost of Community
Let us be honest. Restoration is costly. It costs our pride. It costs our comfort. It costs the false security of being surrounded only by people who agree with us. True community is messy. It requires forgiveness. It requires humility. It requires vulnerability.
But it is worth it. Because when the church is one the world sees Jesus. When we love across our differences the gospel shines brighter. When we refuse to cut off ears and instead heal them the Malchuses of this world begin to hear again.
We are not called to easy love. We are called to cruciform love. Love that stretches out its arms. Love that absorbs pain. Love that restores even those who came to arrest us.
A Call to Lay Down the Sword
So what must we do. We must lay down our swords. We must stop swinging at one another. We must stop cutting people off. We must stop isolating into tribes and factions and denominations and cliques.
We must pick up the ministry of reconciliation. We must become healers of ears instead of cutters of ears. We must reach for the very people we wounded. We must be willing to look foolish in the eyes of the religious so that restoration can come.
This is not optional. It is the command of Jesus. By this all men will know you are My disciples if you love one another. Not if you agree with one another. Not if you look like one another. If you love one another.
Healing the Malchuses
Some of you reading this know a Malchus. Someone you wounded with your words. Someone you cut off in anger. Someone you pushed out of your circle. The Spirit is calling you to restoration. Go and heal the ear. Go and apologize. Go and invite them back to the table.
Some of you are Malchus. You were wounded by the sword of another believer. You were cut off. You were made to feel deaf to the voice of Jesus because of the actions of His followers. Hear me. Jesus is reaching for you. He is still the healer of ears. He is still the restorer. Do not let the wound keep you from His voice.
And some of us are Peter. We have swung swords thinking we were defending Jesus. But Jesus is asking us to put the sword away. To trust that He does not need our violence. He needs our obedience. He needs our love.
Conclusion
The future of the church does not depend on sharper swords. It depends on stronger love. The kingdom will not come through division. It will come through restoration. The Bride will not be made ready by isolating into smaller groups. She will be made ready by being one as the Father and the Son are one.
Let us be a people who refuse to cut off. Let us be a people who seek restoration. Let us be a people who heal the Malchuses. The world is watching. They do not need to see more division. They need to see Jesus. And they will see Him when they see a church that refuses to swing the sword and chooses instead to stretch out arms in love.
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