Luke 22:21-38 Jesus prepares His disciples

Luke 22:21-23 Jesus fingers Judas.  Parallel passages Matt 26:24-26, Mark 14:18-21, John 13:21-30. Jesus and Judas both knew what was going on, but the other disciples were puzzled. Some of them perhaps thought their own lack of faith might lead them to betray Christ. And most of them would flee when He was arrested. But that was not the betrayal Jesus was talking about. Peter later was restored after he denied Christ. But Judas' betrayal was born of treachery. We cannot understand his motives because we do not have a lot of information. We know that Judas would pilfer money from the common fund that was collected from donations to support Jesus. (John 12:6) We do not have the whole story of his downward spiral from small sins to the ultimate betrayal of the Son of God. But as mentioned relative to Luke 22:3, by the time of the Last Supper, Judas had sold out to Satan.

Luke 22:24-38 Jesus tries to give the disciples perspective on His kingdom and what was about to happen.  First He addresses greatness in God's kingdom (22:24-30). Then He talks about Simon's impending denial (22:31-34). Finally He attempts to steel them against the facts of His upcoming sufferings that their faith will not fail. (22:35-38).

          There are many places where it is clear that the disciples did not understand about what greatness in God's kingdom was all about. (Matt 18:1, Mark 9:34, Luke 9:46) They asked who was greatest. In Matt 20:20-21, James and John put their mother up to asking for their preferment. Here, in Luke 22:25-30, Jesus patiently explains that values in God's kingdom are inverted from those of the world. Or rather, it is the value system of the world that is topsy-turvy.  In God's kingdom, the greatest is the one who serves, not the one who is served. He is about to serve all mankind by dying for their sins. His disciples will have the opportunity to share in this service - the kingdom He grants them is that of suffering for His names' sake. They may not immediately share in His throne by dying on crosses next to Him, but ultimately, history records, they would share that aspect of His greatness (not dying for others' sins, but dying in service to God's kingdom). And the history records they did not die in battle as solders such as the Roman army might have them fight and die, but dying as soldiers in God's army in which they voluntarily laid down their lives to carry the gospel to the world and show God's love for all of humankind. And thus they would sit at His table in His kingdom.

          Jesus prophetically tells Peter of his immediate future. (Matt 26:31-35, Mark 14:27-31, John 13:37-38) Perhaps this was part of His response to their quest for greatness in His kingdom. Whether this was based on His understanding of Peter's character, or a revelation of the Holy Spirit, we know that He precisely knew what Peter would do. And that Satan also had a role in this. Although Judas had completely sold out to Satan and thus would betray Jesus, Peter would be sifted by Satan, who wanted to separate Peter from Jesus through Peter's weakness. And he almost succeeded. We see this in Peter's dejected behavior after the resurrection. Even though Jesus had risen from the dead, Peter did not think he could ever be restored to Jesus' trust. (John 21:3 & 15-17). But Jesus' restoration of Peter demonstrates the overpowering nature of God's love and grace. He cannot overcome the deliberate choice to betray Him, as was the case with Judas, and therefore could only use the actions of Judas to further His own glory involuntarily. But with Peter, He was able to fully restore him to faith and fellowship, so that unlike Judas, who killed himself, Peter became the rock of faith, the founding pastor of the church in Jerusalem. Certainly the sermon he gave on Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2, indicates that he had overcome or transcended his cowardice.

          Verses 35-38 are enigmatic, at least to me. Why did Jesus tell His disciples to sell their robes to buy swords, and then say it was enough when they showed Him two? He knew what was going to happen, evidenced by His quote of Isaiah 53:12 in Luke 22:37. Certainly He knew that it was futile to fight the Roman army or even the Temple guard. He knew that His kingdom would not be built with military conquests. Perhaps this was so that they would have at least one sword so that He could make the point in the garden of Gethsemane about the futility of fighting with swords. (22:49-51 below). No obvious explanation emerges.