IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, THE GOSPEL reading for Good Friday is John 18:1–19:42, the narrative of Christ’s betrayal, arrest and passion. The reading is relatively long, at least for Anglicans, and temptation abounds to drift off as the familiar story unfolds. The listener indulging that temptation might miss entirely two verses in which a companion of Jesus cuts off the ear of one of the high priest’s slaves.
This story is present in each of the gospel narratives. Mark (14:47), thought to be the earliest canonical gospel, records that “one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear”. Matthew (26:51-54) and Luke (22:49-51) expand the narrative: Jesus rebukes his follower for his violence, and, in the latter, Jesus also heals the slave’s ear. It is only John’s Gospel (18:10),
