SueAnn Porter

At the Passover Seder, ie, the Last Supper, Jesus is talking to the disciples:

³⁵Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

³⁶ He said to them, “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. ³⁷ It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’^[b]; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

³⁸The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

“That’s enough!” he replied.

–

Jesus tells his disciples to arm themselves. I don’t remember this being stressed in Sunday School……

We then catch up with them at the Mount of Olives, after Jesus has spent time in prayer, before going to the cross:

Jesus Arrested

⁴⁷ While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, ⁴⁸but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹ When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” ⁵⁰And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

⁵¹ But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

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So to put myself in the shoes of the disciples– We are having Passover, Jesus tells me to get a sword. I then bring it along with me, and when the bad guys come after Jesus, instead of killing the guy, I decide to mess with his head and cut his ear off instead.

But then, Jesus heals his ear. I wasn’t really expecting that. Why would Jesus heal the bad guy? Didn’t he tell me to bring the sword in the first place?

There’s an old saying, “The best way to destroy your enemy is to make a friend out of him.” I wonder if this is part of what he was trying to teach us?

Matzoh– a picture of his body broken for us!

Related articles

• Passover Seder – God’s Protest Against and Solution to Injustice (trinitytuscaloosa.wordpress.com)
• The Last Supper Jesus Ate with His Twelve Disciples (brakeman1.com)
• Luke 22:47-53 (biblestudy123.wordpress.com)
• Where Is Your Trust? (5gsandacupofjoe.net)