If Anyone Has an Ear (Mark 14:47)

I was furious! He was standing in my kitchen using Jesus’s name as a cuss word! Then, as an added insult, said, “It doesn’t matter, because I don’t believe in Him anyway.” I scraped the chair on the floor as I pushed against the table to stand. I stalked out of the house and slammed the door behind me! My silence didn’t last long. Once outside I screamed in anger, “How dare you talk like that in my home!” My tongue became a deadly weapon.

At first I felt that the harsh words pouring out of my mouth were justified. But as my fury died down, I began to realize the wounds my sharp words had inflicted on their target, and I felt remorse. My self-righteous attitude changed when I remembered how Peter had taken his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his ear. I don’t think for a minute that Peter was aiming for his ear. How did Jesus respond to Peter? He told him to put away his sword and then restored the man’s ear.

James 1:19-20 says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteous of God.” Anger is a God-given emotion that we feel when we or someone we love is threatened. I completely understand why Peter would want to use his sword to defend Jesus! However, there was a far greater story being told than the chapter being played out in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had come to break the curse that enslaved the hearts of men. Jesus restored the slave’s ear and by His kindness made it possible for him to hear the truth of the gospel.

“There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18). When the heat of my anger cooled and I realized that I was not righteous but wrong, I began to pray and ask Jesus to bring healing. I began to think of how Jesus had responded in kindness even when He hung on the cross. What did He say? “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

Jesus had begun His ministry by saying that the kingdom of God was at hand. He encouraged those who He met to repent and believe the good news. When Jesus told parables about the kingdom He would end the parable with these words, “Whoever has ears, let him hear.” As I thought about this I realized how I, in my self-righteous angry, could use my rash words like a sword to remove the ear of one with whom I was angry. In deep repentance I asked Jesus to restore the one I wounded so that he might be able to hear the mystery of the kingdom of God.