Malchus

“Throw in some more carrots, you stupid Jew!” shouted Malchus. He was tired of haggling. He was actually tired of the whole place. The stinking outpost. The stinking Jews and their stinking tunics and their incoherent babble. Tired of his job.

His job? Soldier. Roman. Serving in Judaea and Samaria. The Jewish provinces were under the Roman Emperor Caesar’s control through Pontius Pilate, Governor. The local ruler, King Herod, was Caesar’s vassal. And Malchus of Perugia, Italia was doing his bit in maintaining Caesar’s glorious authority in this rebellious land, though Jupiter(by the way, Malchus never had spoken to Jupiter or any of his god-mates and was therefore leaning on the atheistic side, although secretly, since most of the Roman Army men were quite religious, though the affiliations varied from the Latin Pantheon to local “nature” gods) only knew what profit Caesar had here.

But a conscript soldier does not ask questions. Neither did Malchus.

Lately, his dissatisfaction had heightened. There was a pervading spirit of discontentment in the land. Even the soldiers felt it. Crime was increasing. The people were frustrated and the mood was bordering on the riotous.

In the middle of all this was Caiaphas, High Priest to the Jews and therefore the most important spiritual leader of the conquered nation, supposedly with access to Jehovah(the Jewish God) himself. It seems this Caiaphas (or any other person in the post of High Priest) was the only person who could enter “the Holy of Holies”, a room in the Jewish tabernacle and there he meets Jehovah. Jupiter knows what they would talk in there!

And Malchus was assigned the night shift as bodyguard to Caiaphas. Not much of a job, but a job it was.

For a week, Caiaphas had been tense, having unusual meetings at night with the other priests. Malchus wasn’t privy to those meetings, but he sure understood them to be of political importance. He frequently heard the word, “Jeshua” being spoken, usually in a very bitter manner.

Jeshua.

Now, there was something! As far as he knew, Jeshua was a local prophet. From some rotten place called Nazareth, in Galilee.

He knew little, but he had heard a lot.
From the populace and also from his mates in the army.

“Jeshua? He is crazy!”

“Jeshua? He is amazing!”

“He speaks wonderfully!”

“He slanders the priests!”

“He does miracles!”

“He fed 10000 people with a few loaves and fish!”

“He raises people from the dead!”

“He is the Messiah!” (Messiah is the prophesied king who will come to save the Jews)

“He says ‘Screw the Pharisees! They are not superior to us.’” (Pharisees were a rigid Jewish sect, supposed to be perfect in all respects)

“He tells us to love others, especially the Roman Enemy!!”

“He’s a traitor!”

“He’s a lunatic and a madman!”

“He calls Jehovah, Abba!!!”

Now Ab means Father. Abba is more like Daddy. In this land, to call upon even the name of Jehovah was sin and to call him Abba was like blasphemy deserving of capital punishment.

Malchus himself had attended one of Jeshua’s discourses, the one where he sat on top of the hill and started preaching. The man, Jeshua, surely was a very charismatic person. There was something about him that intrigued Malchus. However, he was outraged by the teachings. The man taught peace, humility and forgiveness. But a Roman legionnaire was always taught war, pride and ruthlessness. The man’s teachings were indeed hard to swallow. But there was an earnestness on his face, a radiant honesty which said that the man indeed knew what he spoke about. There was also some kind of an invisible aura around him, an aura which the people sensed and flocked to it.

Malchus had been confused. The man seemed normal, a Galilean carpenter by birth. But he also sensed a supra-humanity in Jeshua. A feeling that though Jeshua was as human as Malchus himself, there was something more which placed him above us all. There was also in his eyes a pain, a pain whose depths couldn’t be humanly gauged.

Malchus left before the sermon ended. That would have been the end of it all, had it not been for a Jewish fisherman, Andrea Bar Jonah. He was walking along the shore after being relieved of his shift and there he had met Andrea. Andrea was an ardent follower of Jeshua. He was very polite to Malchus, unlike his brother Simone Petra, who kept screaming at Andrea to stop consorting with the uncircumcised Romans.

Talking with Andrea caused even more confusion. It seems Jeshua would head a para-human kingdom of his brethren. A kingdom of the spirit and not of the world. His loyal subjects would be all humans (not just Jews) who believe in him as the Kristos, the Messiah who would save the world from the clutches of sin and not the clutches of Romans as many Jews thought. The talk was senseless. But Andrea seemed dead-earnest and still in possession of his faculties. It seems Jeshua also claimed to die and be resurrected again, for the sake of humanity.

---

One night, Caiaphas seemed grim. He looked set and determined.

“Malchus, bring your men, the whole company. Judas, lead the way. Take us to the Nazarene Jeshua” said Caiaphas.

I rounded up all the men. It was night-time and therefore we lit a few torches. We followed a shifty character called Judas. He was clutching on to a purse that very obviously clinked with lots of silver. This man was paid handsomely. And by the look in his eyes, it seems he doesn’t want to do what he’s paid for.

Then Caiaphas briefed me on the sudden middle-of-the-night-mission. We were to arrest Jeshua. He had become a political danger. I wondered what Jeshua had done to merit this. He was a mass-leader. Maybe the priests are jealous. Maybe they feel that Jeshua trespasses on their authority. Yes, that was it. The priests were driven by jealousy. And they were going to use the Roman bosses to teach the Galilean a lesson.

Judas led us to Gethsemane into a garden. On the way, he tried to break and flee, but I caught him by the collar of his tunic and dragged him back.

Now, I was a bit tense, too. Not about arresting Jeshua, for that was a command given to me which I cannot disobey. But, I was tense about meeting Jeshua, face to face.

I, Malchus of Perugia, Chief Bodyguard of the High Priest of Judaea thought this was going to be the night of my life.

Few men were sleeping in the garden. They woke up as we approached. They were actually bewildered to see us there at that time in the night. Except for one man, who was wide awake and watched us coming with equanimity. This was Jeshua. I have seen him finally.

His face showed the strain of having gone through an intense and painful experience. He stood up. His eyes were red, as if he had been crying. But his attitude was resigned, as one who knows what is going to happen shall be. He said loudly, in a deep voice, “I am Jeshua, whom you seek.”

Judas walked upto Jeshua. Slowly. There was a whisper of a dialogue between them and then Judas kissed Jeshua on the cheek in the traditional Jewish way.

Then, Caiaphas yelled, “Take him. He is Jeshua.”

And then it all came clear to me. Judas was a conspirator along with the priests. The priests had paid him well for just one purpose: to confirm the identity of Jeshua, so that he can be arrested.

Some of the men with Jeshua fled. Except Petra. Andrea the fisherman’s brother. My men grabbed all the disciples who were intending to flee. Jeshua spoke again, “Take me and leave my men alone”

Then Petra attacked. He leapt at Caiaphas, shouting “You dog! You Roman slave!” Two of my men grabbed him, but he fought back. He threw them off his back and pulled out a dagger and advanced on Caiaphas. My military instincts took over. I pushed Caiaphas away from the dangerous Petra, but in doing so I had placed myself within Petra’s reach. Then Petra swung.

Time seemed to have slowed and stopped. I remember every instant of what happened next.

I felt a searing pain on the right side of my head. I became dizzy.

The same loud voice of Jeshua commanding, “Sheath your sword, Petra!....”

I dropped to my knees.

“Those who live by the sword.......”

I watched in horror as my right earlobe fell to the ground

“........shall die by the sword”

I looked up, stunned. Jeshua bent down and picked up the bloody piece of flesh that was once my ear.

I couldn’t do anything. Something was over me. Awe. Of a kind I had never felt before. An awe of a Majesty I had never known. I was transfixed, speechless.

Jeshua touched the ear to my head and I felt it whole again. But I just couldn’t speak.

---

Old Malchus is in jail. Arrested for high treason. Against the Roman Emperor. Caesar Nero had ordered a crackdown on Christian activists.

They say Malchus is crazy. That he had been crazy ever since the Gethsemane incident 42 years ago.

He has been running around. Saying, “Jeshua is Lord. Jeshua is Saviour. Repent and believe in Him!” He says Jeshua spoke to him and healed him, body and soul. He says that though his body is in prison, his soul is free as he is now Jehovah’s son. He says Jeshua died for him and Jeshua rose again from the dead for him and because of Jeshua, sin no longer has a hold on him.

His old, ravaged body is broken with torture. But his smile is genuine. He told the guards who whipped him that he had forgiven them. When they asked, “Don’t you feel any pain?” he replied, “Yes, but Jeshua endured more pain when he carried the cross.”

Some feel that there is indeed something to Malchus’s words. Some feel he is just a ravaging old man, devoid of senses. Indeed, is he?
- John Arul Prakash

Inspired from the Passion of the Christ, produced by Mel Gibson. The ear-slashing incident occupies just a few seconds in the movie and the person whose ear is slashed is called Malchus. The story was built around those few seconds then and there.