I went to an interesting seminar at a Quaker church this evening. It was a joint program put on by that Quaker church and the Episcopal Church that I attend. It was very intriguing.
The leader (a very nice woman named Pat Thomas) introduced us to a new Bible-reading technique she developed. She calls it Lectio-Midrashic Reading & Journaling, as the two main influences for it was the Christian practice of Lectio Divina and the Judaic tradition of Aggadah Midrash. Surprisingly, it was really quite fun!
The basic idea is that you read a short Bible story, and then you put yourself into the place of one of the minor characters. You write a journal entry of the events of that story from the perspective of that character.
Today, we used the story of Malchus.His story is found in Luke 22:47-51, but more info can be found in John 18:1-10, 25-27. Below, I will include what I wrote for the seminar:
Having been a loyal servant of the High Priest for many years, he had no doubts about my loyalty. So the High Priest sent me with Judas and a crowd to arrest that trouble maker Rabbi, Jesus the Son of Joseph of Nazareth. For three years, this Rabbi has been stirring his followers against the religious leaders, and had even attacked the money changers in the Holy Temple! He had to be stopped!
Of course, my master would never meet with a trouble maker, so we had no clue who he was or what he looked like. So we hired one of his students, a man named Judas, to identify him.
"The one whom I kiss will be Jesus of Nazareth," Judas said, a look of sorrow in his eyes.
I felt nothing for this man but contempt. How could someone betray their master? I knew I couldn't! For this man's sake, I hoped his master wasn't who the crowds thought he was. If this Rabbi was indeed the Messiah, then Judas had no hope for mercy.
We came to the garden where the Rabbi was praying. His other disciples were just waking up. Judas went to the one who had been praying, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" Jesus asked, voice filled with sorrow.
His disciples, seeing the guards closing around the Rabbi, jumped to his defense. One of them drew a sword, and swung it. He was not a swordsman, as he clearly missed the guards. But his sword nonetheless found my ear. Blood started pouring from the side of my head as my ear fell to the ground.
"No more of this!" Jesus said angrily, picking my ear up off the ground. As he touched it to the side of my head, it filled with a very warm sensation. When he removed his hand, I no longer felt the blood gushing out of the side of my head. Touching the side of my head, I realized the ear was reattached.
As the guards arrested Jesus without further incident, I stared at the Rabbi. Who was this man?
