When the speaker announced this week that she was going to speak on the last physical miracle of Jesus, I knew immediately what she would speak about. The speaker was Charlotte Gambill of England. She is on the rotating speaking team of Church of the Highlands in the Birmingham, AL area. (Since her speaking date was March 17, 2024, her presentation is still active on the church website. See www.churchofthehighlands/media under that date and “Latest Message” in the Miracles of Jesus series. Photo compliments of Church of the Highlands)
The last physical miracle was the healing of the severed ear of Malchus in the garden called Gethsemane. It is mentioned in the New Testament in each of the four gospels, just prior to the arrest of Jesus.
How did I know? I had done a blog on the same miracle some three years before and even published the story in my latest book, Perspectives with a Twist, No. 2, in 2022, p. 57. (See blog text below.) Charlotte had my attention.
The pretty blonde from England has a striking resemblance to my own older daughter, Sharon. The Britisher’s words carry weight because she is one of few females that the leadership team places before the cameras in a teaching capacity.
While my own blog carried only a few points, Mrs. Gambill brought to light some analogies that had not occurred to me. She first warned us not to let the miraculous around us become too familiar (commonplace) so that we don’t esteem the current works of God too lightly. Being a participant in a modern-day revival should never become “ho-hum.”The bad example of this is the Luke 4:22 account of Jesus’ visit to his hometown where he was “just Joseph’s son.” His former neighbors didn’t recognize divine presence among them and hindered his ability to do the supernatural.
Next, Charlotte begins unpacking her texts about the behavior of Jesus in the garden. Her beautiful British accent lends charm to the story many have known since youth, extracting lessons. She steers us to see that we should assume the same mindset that Jesus had amidst pressure from the arrival of a mob looking for him, a betrayal and a denial of two of his own men, and the arrest and brutality ahead of him. Just as at times people seize a window of time to enter a burning building to preserve something or someone so valuable to them to allow to be destroyed, he does the same thing if we notice carefully. Something is preserved from destruction during an episode of chaos. During Gethsemane’s stressful scene, Jesus preserves peace. We can too.
Also, Jesus preserved purpose. His purpose was to save and rescue mankind and bring them to God, his mission. The garden tension couldn’t rob him of that.
Then, Charlotte turns to the miracle that she wants to address.1 Peter begins to slash his sword to defend his friend and Lord. He means well but is not in line with what the divine intention is. A servant in the crowd named Malchus is injured as his right ear is severed from his head! [As an aside, the speaker points out that we humans can do that by lashing out at others with our words and figuratively slash off their ears, leaving us with an ear collection. She humorously asks, “How are you doing with your ear collection?”]
Back to Malchus, John tells us that he was the servant of the high priest, Caiphas, who hated Jesus and wanted the death penalty for him. He had been high priest in the duration of the Lord’s three years of ministry and would later be opposed to the work of the Apostles after the Ascension of Christ in the early chapters of Acts.2 By healing Malchus, the Son of God displayed his own example of loving his enemy and healing his servant. Hadn’t he taught publicly that we should love our enemies and do good to them, to rejoice when spoken against? (Matthew 5:43-44; Luke 6:27-28) In a nutshell, the gentle healing touch of this last miracle of healing of a bleeding ear is described as saving what is severed. So in life, the skillful touch of God can restore hope, families, marriages, dreams, and callings, good things not meant to be severed.
Malchus experienced a once-in-a-lifetime touch from the fingers of Jesus that was unique for his situation. How wonderful and amazing that we can also be touched by the invisible hands of Jesus in just the way we need for our own healing.
Notes:
1Charlotte had originally wanted to speak on a “Miracle of Jesus” that she had already researched and written a book about, but she felt that the Holy Spirit say “no.” Nor could she speak on a second book with another miracle. Instead she was guided to this little considered or emphasized miracle. (See Amazon books: Charlotte Gambill, Miracle in the Middle.)
2Archeologists believe that the bones of Caiphas have been discovered in Israel in our day. See the story in my two books, Perspectives with a Twist, No. 2, p. 143 and Life and Teachings of Peter, A Complete Bilingual Curriculum for a Seven-Part Study [English/Spanish], pp. 26 & 32.
TEXT OF MY BLOG: “The Last Miracle”
The Last Miracle
It had never occurred to me that I was reading about the last physical, healing miracle of Jesus when He was on earth. It was the ear healing in Gethsemane during Jesus’ arrest. (Photo by Dreamstime.com)
John spends lots of time describing the first miracle of Jesus when He turned the water into wine in John 2, when the disciples were first jolted into the reality that they were in the presence of Someone supernatural. After three years with Jesus, the miraculous had become commonplace. Seeing a new ear formed was not so shocking by then and was assigned only about two verses.
I had assumed that Jesus reattached the severed ear, but Dr. Luke simply tells us that Jesus “touched his ear and healed him” (Luke 22:51 NKJV). Perhaps Jesus did a creative miracle and created a new ear, just as He did for Adam. After all, He created the universe and could easily make a new ear.
And in Gethsemane, who got to witness this marvelous sight? Two groups were there: (1) the disciples and (2) the hostile crowd.
The hostile group was not only made up of grassroots people from the streets but also some big shots from the culture (Luke 22:52). In the mob that night there were chief priests, leading officers from the temple, and elders of the Jews.
But suddenly, a sword began to thrash/slash. One of the disciples aimed it at the head of one in the crowd, and he severed an ear and saw it lying on the ground. Jesus gave the command to halt resistance. Everyone paused. The sword-swinging disciple turned out to be Peter. Three gospel writers don’t disclose his identity (Luke 22:51; Matthew 26: 51; and Mark 14:47). But John tells us all in his account and even gives us the name of the victim. The disciple was Peter (he says), and his victim was Malchus, a servant of the high priest (John 18:10). John was known to members of the high priest household (John 18:15).
Peter put up his sword. The leaders and the mob stopped in their tracks too. An injured man needed Jesus. Surely such an act of kindness would change the thinking of the mob and its leaders! But NO. It made no difference. They were bloodthirsty. The healing of a blind man and others had had no effect previously on the leaders. Many of them didn’t seem to care to know the true God, just to preserve their power over the people and their favor with the Roman rulers.
God knew the human heart so well that He could predict the outcome of His Son’s ministry. Even the mob played into His hands, completing His scheme to save us. Later the disciples in the early church prayed,
For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus . . .[leaders] and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. (Acts 4:27-31 NKJV)
The best plan is to determine God’s will and get on His side.