What happened to the ear?

There are many unanswered questions in the Bible…many mysteries possibly to be solved one day. That day of solution may just have to wait until heaven. I have frequently stated over the decades that I have questions “I want to ask _______ when I get to heaven.” You can fill in the blank with just about any name you wish – God, Jesus, Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul – the list goes on. Recently, while listening to a Sunday sermon, I revisited one that has been on my mind in the past. I wouldn’t call it an earth-shattering query or even a very important, need-to-know thought. It’s rather trivia-stereotyped. What I would like to know is this: “What happened to the ear?”

In the gospel accounts of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane with its sleepy apostles, weeping Savior, unity prayer…you know the story. When the betrayer Judas arrives at the head of the mob, Peter strikes out with his sword. Now one might expect the Big Fisherman to have a knife or pike or gigantic fish hook, but somewhere he’d found a sword. Peter seems to have been trying to prepare for the worst. Having just had a nap, this giant, who was in the habit of acting and speaking prior to thinking, lashed out at the nearest enemy. He didn’t connect with the evil kisser Judas; no, Peter’s thrust took out the ear of the servant of the high priest (SHP) – the right ear. The anatomy of that dissection might need Abby or Ducky from NCIS to figure out the handedness (left or right) of the defender. Perhaps the SHP was standing sideways to his attacker, thus his right ear might be nearer to the sword as all watched the betrayal unfold. Nevertheless, it happened that the sword blade met the right ear. What is interesting to me is Jesus’ reaction.

Luke’s account (22:51) records that Jesus stopped the blood-bath before it could progress with a, “No more of this!” and then “he touched the man’s ear and healed him.” So my question is about the location of that severed ear. When the ear was “cut off,” wouldn’t it have fallen to earth adhering to the God-created Law of Gravity? If so, did Jesus pick it up and put it back from whence it fell, thus healing the SHP? Or, did our Lord just touch the place where the ear had been? If the latter were the case, then what happened to the ear that lay in the dirt of that garden?
Alas, I must add this query to my lengthy list of questions to ask when I get to heaven – that non-existent list. You see, I have not adhered to the saying that adorns my office wall and that is mentioned frequently in my classes: “If it isn’t in writing, it doesn’t exist.” So now “What happened to the ear?” goes to the end of that list. I can only imagine that, when it comes my turn to ask anything in heaven, I won’t have a clue and will stand there dumbfounded. I am cut to the quick by that realization!