John 18:11

Someone may now, perhaps, raise the question and ask himself: Why did Peter carry a sword? We reply that the duty of repelling the assaults of evildoers, according to the Law, brought the need of a sword. For if one of the disciples had chosen to strike the innocent with a sword, how could the same issue have been tried? It is likely, too, that the holy disciples, as they were hurrying at midnight from their place of rest and expected to find woods and gardens in their way, were suspicious of the attacks of wild beasts. Judea had many of these.

And one might wonder why they did not seize them with Him, and cut them to pieces, especially when Peter had exasperated them by what he did to the servant. Who then restrained them? No other than that Power which cast them backward. And so the Evangelist, to show that it did not come to pass through their intention, but by the power and decree of Him whom they had seized, has added, "That the saying might be fulfilled which He spake," that "not one," etc. Peter, therefore, taking courage from His voice, and from what had already happened, arms himself against the assailants, "And how," saith some one, "doth he who was bidden not to have a scrip, not to have two coats, possess a sword?" Methinks he had prepared it long before, as fearing this very thing which came to pass. But if thou sayest, "How doth he, who was forbidden even to strike a blow with the hand, become a manslayer?" He certainly had been commanded not to defend himself, but here he did not defend himself, but his Master. And besides, they were not as yet perfect or complete. But if thou desirest to see Peter endued with heavenly wisdom, thou shalt after this behold him wounded, and bearing it meekly, suffering ten thousand dreadful things, and not moved to anger.

But Jesus here also worketh a miracle, both showing that we ought to do good to those who do evil to us, and revealing His own power. He therefore restored the servant's ear, and said to Peter, that "All they that take the sword shall perish by the sword"; and as He did in the case of the basin, when He relaxed his vehemence by a threat, so also here. The Evangelist adds the name of the servant, because the thing done was very great, not only because He healed him, but because He healed one who had come against Him, and who shortly after would buffet Him, and because He stayed the war which was like to have been kindled from this circumstance against the disciples. For this cause the Evangelist hath put the name, so that the men of that time might search and enquire diligently whether these things had really come to pass. And not without a cause doth he mention the "right ear," but as I think desiring to show the impetuosity of the Apostle, that he almost aimed at the head itself. Yet Jesus not only restraineth him by a threat, but also calmeth him by other words, saying, "The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" Showing, that what was done proceeded not from their power, but from His consent, and declaring that He was not one opposed to God but obedient to the Father even unto death.

It is not to be thought that the Lord Jesus wished to escape the passion and the death, the sacraments of which he had already committed to his disciples' keeping. This is obvious, seeing that he himself forbids Peter, when he was burning with devoted faith and love, to use the sword. He says, "The cup that the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" The Lord also most certainly says, according to John's Gospel, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life." Similarly, the apostle Paul says, "Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a victim to God for a sweet-smelling savor." For the saving of all through the cross of Christ was the common will and the common plan of the Father and the Son. Nor could that by any means be disturbed that before eternal ages had been mercifully determined and unchangeably foreordained. Therefore in assuming true and entire manhood Jesus took the true sensations of the body and the true feelings of the mind. And it does not follow because everything in him was full of sacraments, full of miracles, that therefore he either shed false tears or took food from pretended hunger or feigned slumber. It was in our humility that he was despised, with our grief that he was saddened, with our pain that he was racked on the cross. For his compassion underwent the sufferings of our mortality with the purpose of healing them, and his power encountered them with the purpose of conquering them. And this Isaiah has most plainly prophesied, saying, "He carries our sins and is pained for us, and we thought him to be in pain and in stripes and in affliction. But he was wounded for our sins and was stricken for our offenses, and with his stripes we are healed."

Now, to drink the cup was to discharge the ministry and the whole divine plan of trial with fortitude. It meant to follow and fulfill the Father's determination and to surmount any apprehension. And the exclamation "Why have you forsaken me?" fits in with the …

In that He calls it a cup, He shows how pleasing and acceptable death for the salvation of men was to Him.

The Lord restrains Peter and says with a threat: "Put your sword into its sheath." At the same time He also comforts, saying: "Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given Me?" For by this He shows that the sufferings depend not …

"Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put your sword into its sheath." Victor: "Let vengeance cease, let patience be shown," according to that saying in Matthew five: "I say to you, do not resist evil, but if anyone strikes you on one cheek, offer him the …

2291 Now we see the zeal of Peter being restrained. First, we see Peter's zeal; secondly, the reason it was restrained (11b). 2292 The Evangelist says that Peter drew his sword, and our Lord said to him, Put your sword into its sheath. It was …

The servant's name, for the greater certainty of the narrative, is recorded; it was Malchus, or Malluch, Neh. x. (1.) We must here acknowledge Peter's good-will; he had an honest zeal for his Master, though now misguided. He had lately promised to venture his life for him, and would now make his words good.

Of all that was amiss in what Peter did, he seems to resent nothing so much as that he would have hindered his sufferings now that his hour was come: "What, Peter, wilt thou step in between the cup and the lip? Get thee hence, Satan. " If Christ be determined to suffer and die, it is presumption for Peter in word or deed to oppose it: Shall I not drink it?

Then said Jesus unto Peter,....

The cup which my Father hath given me - The cup signifies, sometimes the lot of life, whether prosperous or adverse: here it signifies the final sufferings of Christ.

(The full complement of a legion of Roman soldiers was six thousand). "But how then shall the scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be?" (Mt 26:53, 54).

These verses begin John's account of Christ's sufferings and crucifixion. We now enter on the closing scene of our Lord's ministry, and pass at once from His intercession to His sacrifice. We shall find that, like the other Gospel-writers, the beloved disciple enters fully into the story of the cross. But we shall also find, if we read carefully, that he mentions several interesting points in the story, which Matthew, Mark, and Luke, for some wise reasons, have passed over. We should notice, first, in these verses, the exceeding hardness of heart to which a backsliding professor may attain.

These verses begin John's account of Christ's sufferings and crucifixion. We now enter on the closing scene of our Lord's ministry, and pass at once from His intercession to His sacrifice. We shall find that, like the other Gospel-writers, the beloved disciple enters fully into the story of the cross. But we shall also find, if we read carefully, that he mentions several interesting points in the story, which Matthew, Mark, and Luke, for some wise reasons, have passed over. We should notice, first, in these verses, the exceeding hardness of heart to which a backsliding professor may attain. We are told that Judas, one of the twelve Apostles, became guide to those who captured Jesus. We are told that he used his knowledge of the place of our Lord's retirement, in order to bring His deadly enemies upon Him; and we are told that when the band of men and officers approached his Master, in order to take Him prisoner, Judas "stood with them." Yet this was a man who for three years had been a constant companion of Christ, had seen His miracles, had heard His sermons, had enjoyed the benefit of His private instruction, had professed himself a believer, had even worked and preached in Christ's name! "Lord," we may well say, "what is man?" From the highest degree of privilege down to the lowest depth of sin, there is but a succession of steps. Privileges misused seem to paralyze the conscience. The same fire that melts wax, will harden clay. Let us beware of resting our hopes of salvation on religious knowledge, however great; or religious advantages, however many. We may know all doctrinal truth and be able to teach others, and yet prove rotten at heart, and go down to the pit with Judas.