My Name is Malchus (John 18:10)
I can't shake the feeling, lingering in my core, since the night in the garden. Caiaphas instructed me to follow the guards out to the meeting point. I would be his eyes and ears. The High Priest hoped the Nazarene would say something, anything which could be brought as evidence in front of the Sanhedrin. There were still a few members who needed convincing of the dire political crisis we faced. As Caiaphas said, "It is better that one man be destroyed, rather than a whole nation." But the horror that occurred there still plagues my dreams by day and night. The betrayer, I believe his name was Judas, greeted the one named Jesus with a kiss. The moment seemed unreal, an expression of kinship in return for blood. What did this disciple of his expect to gain by turning over a man who harbored no guilt? A sword was drawn to defend the teacher. I saw only a flash of the moon's reflection in the steel blade. The burly fisherman h...