Miracles of Mercy

By President Susan H. Porter

Primary General President

Jesus offered healing to both Malchus and His valued disciple Peter.

Have you ever received a gift from our Heavenly Father perfectly suited to your needs that you did not ask for or deserve? This is what Malchus, the servant of the high priest, received when he went to arrest the Savior.

Have you needed help repairing the fallout from a rash act or hurtful words, even when your intent was good? This is a gift that Peter received when he tried to defend the Savior in a stressful situation.

In the middle of one of the most critical moments of the Savior’s mortal ministry, when the plan of salvation for all of God’s children depended on what happened next, the Savior took the time to extend mercy to these two individuals.

What can we learn from the miracle that Malchus received when he was healed by the One he had been sent to arrest? And what can we learn from Peter’s experience with this unexpected miracle?

An Unexpected Miracle

After His intense suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane (see 2 Nephi 9:21; Mosiah 3:7), Jesus awakened His disciples and was immediately approached by a mob of armed temple guardsmen and Roman soldiers.¹ Among them was Judas and a servant of the high priest. As the crowd approached in the dark of night, Judas identified Jesus with a kiss on the cheek, to which the Savior replied, “Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48).

While the mob hesitated, Jesus asked them, “Whom seek ye?”

They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

“I am he,” was His response, and John, who was there, records that at His response, the mob “went backward, and fell to the ground.” The majesty of the Savior, even after His immense suffering, was felt in a powerful way. After asking them again whom they sought, Jesus repeated, “I have told you that I am he.” Then, to protect His disciples, Jesus said, “If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way” (John 18:4–8).

Peter, however, had other ideas. Intent on defending the Savior, he drew his sword and swung at Malchus, the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear (see John 18:10).

But Jesus defused the explosive situation. Stopping Peter, He said: “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

“But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26:52–54).

Each of the accounts records that Jesus surrendered Himself and His disciples fled. However, Luke reports that first, Jesus mercifully “touched [Malchus’s] ear, and healed him” (Luke 22:51).

Extending Mercy to Malchus

What meekness Jesus exhibited as He was being treated as a criminal! Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles pointed out that Jesus “reached out and blessed His potential captor using the same heavenly power that could have prevented Him from being captured and crucified.”²

In spite of the universal scope of the Savior’s mission, He never lost sight of the one. While we know little of Malchus, he was known to Jesus.

Was Malchus moved by the Savior’s touch? Was his heart brought to the Savior by this show of gentle mercy? We don’t know. But whatever his personal choices were, in the healing of his ear, he was offered a gift he didn’t ask for. This last miracle of healing in mortality was an act of mercy on the part of the Savior, another opportunity to show forth His Father’s miraculous power and love.

Jesus loves each of His Father’s children with an infinite love. In everything the Savior does, He is trying to bring souls to Himself, to bring them to repentance so they might be saved (see 2 Nephi 26:24).

Have you experienced a change of heart after receiving an unexpected blessing? Have your eyes been opened to see “streams of mercy, never ceasing, [that] call for songs of loudest praise”?³

Mercy that Protected Peter

What about Peter? Jesus knew He needed to be taken to suffer and die so that it would be possible for us to return to God through repentance and the Resurrection. This was His mission. But He also needed His disciples to survive Him to carry out their mission of preaching the gospel and establishing the Church.

The dark forces that were gathering around the Savior must have been very frightening for the Apostles. Peter acted rashly, bringing forth one sword in the face of many to defend his Master; however, the Lord healed the wound that Peter caused. We don’t know whether the healing of Malchus saved Peter from consequences that would have kept him from fulfilling his mission. But what a gift to Peter!

Have you ever said or done something rash or hurtful, even in defense of the Savior or His Church? Remembering the experience of Peter can give us the courage to seek to make amends. The Savior sees our imperfect efforts to live His gospel and defend His name, even when in our weakness those efforts may unintentionally cause harm.

When we defend our beliefs on social media or in person, we may at times become “over-zealous” (Mosiah 9:3) or “[omit] the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23), including mercy. We don’t use swords, but words have a powerful effect, being able to “lead the people to do that which [is] just” (Alma 31:5) or to offend them (see James 3:2). We may find ourselves in the same place as Peter, dependent on the Savior’s mercy to heal the wounds we have caused and help us move forward, defending the faith and sharing the gospel with a “spirit of meekness” (Doctrine and Covenants 100:7), replacing a spirit of contention (see Acts 4:7–14; 5:40–42).

Mercy in Our Weakness

It is unclear whether any members of the mob witnessed the healing of Malchus’s ear, but perhaps the Savior was extending mercy to them as well, giving them one final opportunity to witness His power and repent.

In our own moments of weakness, the Lord extends mercy, enabling us to overcome the challenges we face.

In December 2016, my husband developed pneumonia. We were living in Moscow, Russia, where Bruce was serving in the Europe East Area Presidency. The doctors said he would need to stay in the hospital for a few days to receive antibiotics. That night his health took a dramatic turn for the worse, and they placed him in an induced coma.

For the next 10 days, I got up each morning, pleading for the Lord’s help as I drove to the metro station, rode for 45 minutes on the subway, and then walked the remaining blocks to the hospital. I sat all day by Bruce’s side in the intensive care unit as he lay perfectly still, unable to talk or move, surrounded by monitors of all kinds. Each evening I reversed my trip, arriving home to gather our belongings in preparation for our return to Utah.

Even now, I remember that in those cold, dark days, I never felt afraid as I traveled on the subway. I remember the peace and calm I felt as I sat by Bruce’s bed in the hospital. At home each night, I was alone but not lonely.

However, shortly after we returned to Utah, Bruce passed away.

“I Did This for You”

Recently, as I recalled those long days, the Lord spoke clearly to my mind, “I did this for you.” In that moment, the Lord let me know that the peace I had felt, the safety I had experienced, and the sense that I was not alone had come from a loving Heavenly Father and His Son. They had extended mercy to me in my weakness.⁴

Sometimes we are aware of His mercy, and other times we just soldier on, unaware of the divine help that allows us to move forward. But as we pray to have our eyes opened to see the mercy the Savior extends to us, our hearts will be ready to extend mercy to those who cross our path. He said, “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36).

Whether we receive that mercy when we are making unrighteous choices, as was Malchus; caught in a desperate circumstance, as was Peter; or simply struggling beyond our capacity, as I was; the Lord can and will visit us in His mercy.

As we reflect on the greatest act of mercy—our Savior’s suffering—we can hear His loving words to us: “I did this for you.”