Jesus Heals the Enemy

During the arrest of Jesus in the garden, one of his disciples cut off the ear of someone on the "opposing side."  What did Jesus do?

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Transcript

Sermons from 

Mission Hills UCC

San Diego, California

Rev. Dr. David Bahr

david.bahr@missionhillsucc.org

March 22, 2026

“Jesus Heals the Enemy”

Luke 22: 46-53 – Common English Bible

He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray so that you won’t give in to temptation.”

Jesus’ arrest

47 While Jesus was still speaking, a crowd appeared, and the one called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him.

48 Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Human One[a] with a kiss?”

49 When those around him recognized what was about to happen, they said, “Lord, should we fight with our swords?” 50 One of them struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear.

51 Jesus responded, “Stop! No more of this!” He touched the slave’s ear and healed him.

52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come to get him, “Have you come with swords and clubs to arrest me, as though I were a thief? 53 Day after day I was with you in the temple, but you didn’t arrest me. But this is your time, when darkness rules.”

This Lent we have been following a series of stories about Jesus, and in each one, it’s a reversal.

• At a wedding in Cana, when the wine ran out, he turned what wasn’t enough into more than enough.
• There was a scene at a dinner table when Jesus praised “a certain” woman.  While she was washing his feet with her tears and her hair, Jesus criticized the host’s lack of hospitality.
• When a group of men dragged a woman before Jesus demanding she be stoned, Jesus turned it back on them.  Which one of you has no sin?  They all walked away humbled and she walked away set free.
• Last week, Jesus knelt to wash the feet of his disciples.  Even Judas, knowing he was about to betray him.
• And today, that betrayal is carried out.

These stories have repeated again and again that when scarcity, shame, condemnation, and violence shape the story, Jesus turns it upside down. 

After supper, while he went to pray, Jesus told the disciples to stay awake and pray not to fall into temptation.  When he came back they were asleep.  And temptation shows up immediately.

The crowd comes and the tension rises.  One of the disciples reaches for a sword and strikes the servant of the high priest. He cuts off his ear.  Jesus stops the violence and heals him.

In all four Gospels, betrayal by Judas led to the arrest in the garden.  But only in Luke does Jesus heal the wounded servant.

The story of Judas is told slightly different in each gospel.  For example, in Mark, Judas only appears for a moment.  He goes to the chief priests and they promise him money and then he looks for an opportunity to betray Jesus.  That’s it.  No explanation or motive. 

Matthew adds a detail. The chief priests count out thirty pieces of silver.  And Matthew alone tells us that after Jesus is condemned, Judas is overcome with regret and tries to bring the money back.  When they refuse, he throws it into the temple and goes out and hangs himself.

Then there’s Luke who follows the simple example of Mark but he adds a spiritual dimension. He explains the motivation: “Satan entered into Judas.” 

In John, the story expands.  Judas has already been introduced as having allegedly taken money from the common purse.  At their last meal together, Jesus identifies him by giving him a piece of bread.   

John doesn’t mention any payments or anything about his death.

Simply that after Judas receives the bread, “Satan entered into him.” 

Despite these differences, in each one Judas is the one who hands Jesus over.  Cast as the villain.  But I’m always a little cautious when we’re told that one person carries all the blame.  And sure enough, did you know there’s another way to think about Judas?

There’s an ancient manuscript called The Gospel of Judas.  It wasn’t discovered until the 1970s in Egypt.  It was damaged and only in fragments. But in 2006, after careful restoration and translation, the Gospel of Judas was finally made public. And it presents a fascinating alternative view.

Written about 100 years after the other gospels, in it, Judas is not the villain of the story. He is the only one with the terrible courage needed.  Not as an act of betrayal or with malintent, but as an act of obedience, so that the final events can unfold. He is the only one Jesus trusts to hand him over.

This is not to say we should disregard the witness of the four different Gospel writers, but to remember this is the kind of Jesus we have explored throughout Lent.  When everyone else rushes to judgment, we have repeatedly seen that when religion shames and condemns, Jesus turns it upside down.  To villains and outcasts, Jesus instead demonstrates love and mercy and healing – especially to someone like Judas.  

So, with everything now set in motion for the arrest in the garden, Jesus went off by himself.  In agony, he prayed, “let this cup pass from me, but not my will.  Let your will be done.”  Meanwhile, he told the disciples to stay awake and pray not to fall into temptation. 

When he came back, he found them asleep.  And at that very moment temptation arrives and immediately one of the disciples reaches for a sword. 

Unprepared, that’s what happens when fear takes over.  The blade comes out.  Real damage is done.  And Jesus says:  “No more of this.”  He reaches out and heals the wounded enemy.

Well, not actually the enemy.  Notice who gets hurt.  The servant of the high priest – someone with no power caught up in the system.  He is collateral damage.

Collateral damage is an understatement for what is happening in the Middle East. But I also read this week about what is happening in the countries in Southeast Asia that I will travel to during my sabbatical later this year. Fuel shortages are having devastating effects on those who are far away and uninvolved.

It’s a crisis in Laos. Forty percent of gas stations have no fuel which has led schools to shut down to three days a week.  People sleep in long lines overnight before the gas runs out again – if there was any delivered that day.  With the shortage of fuel, several temples report they’re struggling to cremate bodies.

Where there is fuel, fishermen in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and elsewhere still can’t work.  With prices up 70% they can’t make enough.  As one said, “It’s a crisis abroad, but we’re the ones getting screwed.”

In Myanmar, shortages have meant the government has restricted what days people can drive. In Yangon, a woman was stopped and received a stiff fine because she was driving her mother, who was having a heart attack, to the hospital.

If all of that feels very far away – different countries, different lives – in different ways, the damage is still recognizable.

Like when a beloved member of Harriet’s family died.  The family had an argument that got out of control.  Voices were raised.  People started talking over each other.  And then old wounds came up that had nothing to do with the moment other than to inflict a little more damage.  And then one person said something that completely crossed the line.  You know the kind of thing not said to try to win an argument but to plunge in the knife.  

There was a gasp in the room.  The voices stopped.  But before they could start up again, raise the volume and keep escalating, Harriet’s aunt simply declared:  “No.  No more.  We’re not doing this.”  And she turned to the one who had been hurt and said, “That shouldn’t have been said. I’m sorry.”  It changed everything.

While everything is falling apart for him that night, Jesus’ first response is to restore the one who is hurt.  

That’s our call too.  To be healers where there is fear.  Restorers of the breach where there is violence.  Isn’t that who you would like to be?

I don’t mean miracle workers.  Healers.  I mean who we are when our world is falling apart too.  When violence breaks out around us, what we do. 

Because that moment is upon us.  Our nation and the world are on literal fire, surrounded by escalating violence.  We have a choice.  As we look for people to blame, we can say things to our neighbors not to win an argument, but to wound.  To plunge a knife.  Or we can stop it.

That’s the choice before us.  We can keep doing what the world does.  React.  Blame.  Wound.

In truth, we are all collateral damage.  Not like in the Middle East.  Not like the poor of the world.  But we have been drawn into a fight that does nothing but serve the violence of the violent and only makes things worse.  

We can change who we are with the neighbors we have been pitted against.  Not to excuse the real damage, we can say, “No more of this.”  And commit to the work of healing instead.  

So today, bring all that is breaking in you.  Bring honesty.  Refuse to add to the harm.  Turn the story upside down.

And become people who follow Jesus and bring healing to family and friends and especially foes:

“by all the means you can,
 in all the ways you can,
 in all the places you can,
 at all the times you can,
 to all the people you can,
 as long as ever you can.” (John Wesley)