Wouldn't taking out a sword and attacking those that attack you feel good sometimes? But Jesus always responds completely different. Instead of allowing Peter to violently defend Him, He instead healed His attacker. This to me is perhaps the most difficult part of being aware of Christ in me.
Not only is this attack from people difficult, it is absolutely necessary if we are to go deeper with God. It is a must if we are truly going to become alive in Christ, alive in our awareness of Him in us. In fact, as we go deeper, the seeming attack will come not from the outside, but those closest to us.
On this T Austin-Sparks says, "It is his own household, the Christian household. You will meet the antagonism to what has come in from heaven as a heavenly thing; you will meet the antagonism amongst those who are the traditional people of God in this dispensation. That is how it will be. That is going to be the cost of a walk in life with the Lord and not with man, knowing the Lord for yourself."
And why not? This thing called Christianity is not a memorization of a creed. It is lived. And in order to be fully lived it must also be tested. And if to be tested, then who better to do that than the ones we love.
For me the difficulties is that I too often take the attack personal. It is this that God is trying to remove. All around me people get angry at me for what I say. Well, perhaps not what I say because I speak the truth, but how I say it, or when I say it. And their anger, angers me. This is my issue. I take their anger personally, when all the while the devil is using it to distract me from being aware of the presence of Christ in me. Understand? The battle is not against flesh and blood like the Bible says. The battle is inside me to stay aware of Christ in those instances.
And I am not. I am distracted into revenge. I am distracted in to proving someone's ignorance. And if I am not distracted, I am disappointed that the Christ in means says nothing and does nothing. Isn't that how He has always responded to the attack. His response is speechless because He knows the truth of Who He is. His response is in surrender because He also knows the truth of Whose He is.
God, when people get on my last nerve, help me to respond in love, in silence, and in surrender. Help me to be an example of Your Son.
Lastly please note who God chose to honor in the selected passage. He gave name to the slave for eternity. Malchus was just doing his job, and for that we know his name today.
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