The example of this event does not urge us to draw iron, or lift stones against anyone, or beat opponents with wood. Rather, it urges us to contend together in piety toward Christ.
For our weapons are not fleshly, according to Paul's word (2 Cor 10:4). On the contrary, we must treat even our murderers with meekness when circumstances do not allow us to escape them.
Indeed, it is much better for the Righteous Judge Himself to repay others for our wrongs than for us to demand judgment for blood under the pretext of piety.
Besides this, one may also point out that it would be the height of absurdity to honor by the death of our persecutors the One who Himself voluntarily endured death precisely in order to destroy death.
In this also it was necessary to follow Christ. For if He had been summoned to death by necessity and violence, as one unable by His own power to repel an irresistible attack because of the multitude of servants, then perhaps those seized by love for Him would have done no injustice.
They might then have resolved to defend Him with all their strength and to resort to every means, if only to save the One who, through the impiety of certain men, was unwillingly subjected to danger.
But since He is true God, and had power utterly to destroy those who attacked Him, and since even at the very beginning of the struggle He made them feel so great a power of His. So that He cast them down by one gentle word alone, for all fell backward, how could it be allowed for us to rush with untamed and unrestrained anger toward what He Himself did not do, though He very easily could have done it?
Something similar, we find, is written elsewhere by the holy Evangelists. The Lord once came wishing to stay in a certain village bordering Judea. It belonged to the Samaritans.
But they rudely rejected the One who wished to come to them. Indignant at this, the disciples approached Him and said: "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" (Lk 9:54).
But the Savior again says to them: leave them. Or do you not know that "I can ask My Father, and He will now provide Me with twelve legions of angels" (Mt 26:53)?
For He came not in order to use His own natural power as God against His enemies. Rather, He came to be a teacher of the utmost mercy toward us and to present an image of the highest freedom from malice.
Therefore He says: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart" (Mt 11:29). Yet Peter's intention, when he raised the sword against the opponents, does not contradict the commandment of the law.
For it commanded that those unjustly wronged be repaid foot for foot, hand for hand, wound for wound, and harm for harm (Ex 21:24-25). For what purpose did those armed with swords and clubs come, equipped with weapons and gathered in a multitude?
Without doubt, they came for something that could have subjected the disciples to death. For they carried clubs and swords with them.
The Savior clearly indicated this to us when elsewhere He said to them: "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs, to seize Me? Daily I sat teaching in the temple, and you did not take Me" (Mt 26:55).
Therefore Peter's intention was lawful and did not contradict the ancient ordinances. But our Lord Jesus Christ came in order to teach what is above the law and to transform us into meekness like His own.
For this reason He forbids intentions that accord with the law, since they do not possess the full perfection of the true good. The perfect good does not consist in equal retribution.
On the contrary, it is manifested in the highest freedom from malice. Yet perhaps even after this someone will doubt and say within himself: where did Peter get a sword?
We answer again that the obligation imposed by the law to defend oneself against those who wronged others also introduced the need for a sword. Indeed, what if someone wished to strike wholly harmless men with a sword?
How could he receive equal retribution from the injured if they had no swords? Besides this, it is likely that the holy Apostles, going out of the house in the middle of the night and intending to enter groves and gardens, feared the attack of wild beasts.
For the country of Judea was especially rich in beasts. If you say to this, why did the disciples need a sword? Was Christ not sufficient in danger, that is, both to drive away beasts and to remove fear from them?
Yes, we shall answer, this is a very fine argument, for Christ was almighty. Nevertheless, we see that, although Christ could have done many other things, the disciples lived the life customary to us.
Indeed, must we not acknowledge that Christ could have made bread from stones and created money from nothing, enough for their expenses? Yet they procured bread, and they carried a money box, collecting offerings.
Also, when Christ once wished to cross the lake with them, they entered a boat with Him. Yet it would have been possible to walk through the water itself, if Christ had wished this also.
Thus the accusation against the disciples is vain, if someone sees them using the human manner of life and following it. Peter then "cuts off the right ear" of the servant.
This event, as in a figure or example, shows that the Jewish people were, as it were, deprived of right hearing. They did not wish to understand the words of Christ, but preferred the left hearing.
They followed only their own madness, "deceiving and being deceived" (2 Tim 3:13), as it is written. For, trampling even the law defined long ago, they turned to "teachings that are commandments of men" (Mt 15:9).
THEOSIS