Tuesday
Dec132005
Buy a sword?
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 10:22AM
i read something the other day that i don't think i've ever noticed before in Luke's account of the Last Supper (Luke 22:7-38), Jesus commands his disciples:
"But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." (v. 36)
since i've never noticed this verse before, i went to the ultimate scriptural research tool, Google, to see what people think about this. it was immediately clear that there are many different interpretations about what this verse is supposed to mean. there are pages about self defense, gun control, even a page entitled "Jesus was a super passive pussy" which is a forum thread where people call each other names. but the best that i found in my 90 seconds of googling was from Jesuswalk.com. I don't know anything about this website but it seems to have a pretty well though out view of this passage. the writer tries to present two sides to the interpretation of the command to buy a sword but presents more references to the idea that Jesus was speaking figuratively, indicating to me that this must be the more widely held view. i have no problem with this view because there are many times that Jesus spoke in figurative language that could potentially be misconstrued if taken literally. it's just interesting to me that this verse was included by the writer of Luke.
is this something that anyone has ever heard/thought much about? is it interesting to anyone besides myself?
"But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." (v. 36)
since i've never noticed this verse before, i went to the ultimate scriptural research tool, Google, to see what people think about this. it was immediately clear that there are many different interpretations about what this verse is supposed to mean. there are pages about self defense, gun control, even a page entitled "Jesus was a super passive pussy" which is a forum thread where people call each other names. but the best that i found in my 90 seconds of googling was from Jesuswalk.com. I don't know anything about this website but it seems to have a pretty well though out view of this passage. the writer tries to present two sides to the interpretation of the command to buy a sword but presents more references to the idea that Jesus was speaking figuratively, indicating to me that this must be the more widely held view. i have no problem with this view because there are many times that Jesus spoke in figurative language that could potentially be misconstrued if taken literally. it's just interesting to me that this verse was included by the writer of Luke.
is this something that anyone has ever heard/thought much about? is it interesting to anyone besides myself?
in Personal
Personal
Reader Comments (2)
one way i'd heard it explained is that we need to be prepared for the battle that lies ahead of us. and it is important enough for us to sell our cloaks in order to be prepared. not sure how scripturally sound that interpretation is, but i thought i'd share. especially since i was just thinking about that passage the other day. : )
yeah, I heard that quoted several times after 9/11 in reference to our nation "picking up a sword" against those who would kill us because of our beliefs. I have always regarded it as Jesus telling his followers that he won't be there anymore, and neither would the halo of God's protection that surrounded him. And he wanted his disciples to get ready for both a physical and spiritual fight.
But one more thing, Todd. Consider this. Luke was the only one to include this part of the last supper in his gospel. Luke was a doctor. Now think of the one doctor and two would-be doctors that you know well. Are you at all suprised that Luke (the doctor) is the one that brought up the talk about weapons?
Just a thought.
Daniel