I blinked for one second. Just one. With a quick motion, he drew his sword and cut off my right ear. Yes I was shocked, but what happened after was much more surprising.
The man. The man who everyone talks about. The man who stirs up crowds. The man who says his authority comes from God. The man who I came to arrest. He healed me.
I will never forget the power I felt surge through my body as he touched my ear. I can’t even begin to describe it. It was relief. That short minute of pain which seemed like an eternity finally ceased. I reached up to touch my ear and to my dismay, it was perfect. Like it had never happened.
Who was this man? Why would the man who I came to arrest heal me? Why would he rebuke the one who tried to defend him? I don’t understand.
I had never felt that kind of love. I mean he saw me. Like really saw me. As he reached for my head, he gazed into my soul and I felt love. He looked me in the eyes like he had known me my whole life. And for that one moment, I was transported. For that one moment, I wasn’t a servant. I wasn’t someone who was ordered around. For that one moment, I was loved. But not the usual love; it was different. It was deeper. It was unconditional. It was the kind of love that seemed to erase all the awful things I had done in my life. It was something I had never known until that moment.
What if he was who he said he was? What if he really was the Son of God? We took him in regardless because that was what we were ordered to do. But I fear now. I fear that what I have done cannot be forgiven. I fear that I won’t ever get to see that man again. Because there was something different about him. Something attractive. Something that made me curious about him. Something that I will never forget.
I had an encounter with Jesus, and I will forever be changed.
