He Who Has Ears (part 3)

 

You have terrible aim, I thought to myself.  That sword is only a foot long.  Good grief!

 

Before I could do anything; before I could get angry or scramble to my feet or strike back or even cry, the guy in the light – who by this time I was pretty sure was Jesus – spoke out and everyone froze. 

 

Jesus stepped toward me.  I wanted to crawl backward but I couldn’t.  He looked at me in a way no one had ever looked at me.  He saw something beyond me; beyond my face.  I think he saw my heart. 

 

I wanted to look away but I couldn’t.  I wanted him to say something, but he didn’t.  Not like I could have heard him anyway.

 

But then he reached out his hand toward my ear, or where my ear used to be, and placed it over the fresh wound.  His touch was strong and powerful, not gentle; not gentle at all. 

 

As he pulled his hand away I saw my blood on his hand and on the cuff of his cloak.  I grabbed at the side of my head.  An ear!  I thought.  I have an ear!  Jesus gave me a new ear!  And then he looked at the whole lot of us and said something about not leading a rebellion.  A minute ago I would have questioned him, but at that moment… no way. 

 

Then he said – and I’ll remember this for as long as I live; I heard it so clearly – he said, “This is your hour…” and thankfully he wasn’t looking at me, “…when darkness reigns.” 

 

But then he did look at me.  And folks, the way he said “darkness reigns” freaked me out.  It had a weight to it; a thickness or a gravity that sent a chill down my spine all the way to my toes. 

 

A flood of remembrance drowned my mind.  Sin after sin after sin.  And I’m telling you, as the guards bound Jesus up and we headed back to the city I must have remembered every sin I’d ever committed. 

 

By the time we got back to Caiaphas’ house a whole lot more people had gathered.  I mean all the chief priests and teachers of the law were there with Caiaphas, and the questioning began immediately. 

 

I stood back and watched… and listened; and I heard everything so clearly.