There is a balance in Jesus. On the one hand, He says, “turn the other cheek”. On the other hand, Jesus gives differing instructions. Luke 22:36 reports that “He (Jesus) 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.'”
In Luke 22: 38 “They said, ‘Lord, look, here are two swords.’ And He said to them, ‘It is enough.'”
In Matthew 26:51, we see that, at least once, one of the swords was put to use: “With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.”
Luke 22:49 tell us that: “When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, ‘Lord, should we strike with our swords?'”
The Biblical account is clear. At least two of the Apostles were armed with standard infantry weapons. At least once, one of them was put to use. It is reasonably assumed that the mere presence of the swords kept the entire party safe as they followed Jesus around the nation.
These passages offer lessons. First, we learn that the “sword passages” are rarely popular. They are politically incorrect. Jesus and the Apostles were under the protection of Caesar. They did not need weapons. Caesar provides all the protection that any citizen needs.
Jesus’ instructions, that one sixth of His followers be armed with a standard infantry weapon, are never taken seriously by those whose greatest allegiance is to earthly powers.
It’s fun to watch how our betters avoid the basic words of Jesus, on this and other subjects, by automatically responding: “He was speaking to His time.” “He was speaking only to His immediate followers about a specific occurrence.” “He was not talking to us. We all know that. He was only talking about two swords on one occasion. Every popular writer and scholar on the subject says so.”
We find Biblical truth by reading the usually clear, simple words in the Bible. We also find Biblical truth by seeing the contradictory meaning that some give to clear, simple words of The Bible for reasons of their own.
As we see people avoiding the obvious meaning of clear, simple words, we may bear in mind that one of The Gifts of The Spirit is Courage.
