January 18 / John 18

Malchus and Barrabas... here are two names in Scripture we don't hear often.  We know very little about Barrabas and nothing at all about Malchus, besides his position as high priest servant (and the fact that from here on after he only had one ear!).  About Barabbas we know some; he was in prison for having taken part in an uprising.  We also know what side of the Passion story they were on...the bad guys!  One was part of the posse sent to arrest Christ and the other was a hardened criminal.  Rarely do we hear Bible stories were they are the heroes!

Peter is a different story.  He became the rock the Church was built on, one of Christ's closest friends, a leader amongst the disciples.  He walked on water, he had a brother who was a disciple, he saw his mother-in-law healed (no word on whether he considers that a good thing or a bad thing).  We know a lot about Peter.  Maybe the most popular story about Peter is his denial of Christ.  John 18 details this denial and his crazy attempt to "rescue" Christ with a sword.

And here's what's funny to me... in John 18 it is the traditional bad guys (Malchus and Barabbas) who are innocent bystanders and the spiritual guy (Peter) who is the big sinner!  Malchus does nothing his bosses did not instruct him to do and gets his ear chopped off!  Barabbas is sitting in prison and suddenly is released.  Meanwhile, Peter, the teacher's pet, cuts off an ear, then denies Christ three times...all in 40 verses.

If I were Peter, this chapter would be really embarrassing.  This chapter is full of Peter's failure.

Growing up, when I got in trouble, I dreaded my Father's return because I knew I was "gonna get it."  I would be dreading seeing Christ face to face, if I were Peter, after the embarrassing events in this chapter.  But, when Peter gets news Christ is resurrected, he RUNS to the empty grave.

And that is the difference.  It does not matter how bad our latest chapter is, we can always still run to the grave.  I wonder what would have happened to Malchus and Barabbas if they had known they could run to the grave, despite their awful last chapters?  Maybe Malchus, with his one good ear and an amazing story of how he went to capture Christ but got captured with His love instead, would have become an important evangelist.  Maybe Barabbas, with his story of gaining his freedom at Christ's expense, would have become a church leader.  Because, a mere fisherman with a bad temper and questionable loyalty, became the rock the Church was built on after a bad chapter...when he ran to the empty grave.

Mike