In 1731, the Spanish coast guard boarded an English merchant ship captained by a man named Robert Jenkins. The incident was not very serious, but in the melee Jenkins’s ear was cut off, and he apparently complained to the British Parliament. For this reason, and for a host of other ones, the two nations went to war. The War of Jenkins’ Ear lasted for almost a decade.

When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, one of His followers tried to defend Him and in the process cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants. In his Gospel, John included an interesting detail that the other Gospel writers did not mention—the name of the high priest’s servant whose ear was cut off was Malchus (John 18:10). How John learned the name of the high priest’s servant is a good question. Perhaps by the time John wrote (scholars believe his was the last of the four Gospels to be written), Malchus had become a Christian believer. While Malchus was taking part in the arrest of Jesus, Jesus responded by reaching out and healing his ear. This must have made a profound impact on Malchus.

The other Gospels (Matthew 26:51, Mark 14:47, Luke 22:30) identify the man only as “the servant of the high priest.” This is perhaps a reminder that as long as we label people with an impersonal description—the high priest’s servant, the enemy, the communist, the capitalist, the immigrant, the boss, the Russian, the Jew—then it is easy to hate them. However, once we name them, recognize them as individuals, then they become our neighbors and our brothers and sisters, and we are obligated to love them.

As His followers, we know that Jesus has loved us and called us by name (Isaiah 45:3). We can be sure that He also knew Malchus by name, reaching out to touch him in love and to heal him where he hurt. Interestingly, John is also the only Gospel writer to identify the disciple who cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear—Simon Peter. In loving others, in according them the dignity of being individual human beings for whom Jesus died, we too become recipients of God’s love, children of God.