A Supervised Assignment to Find Needed Grace
After Jesus’s lengthy discourse at the last supper, he gave his disciples some enthralling instructions. As we read through the first one, we may find it surprising—very surprising—that the Holy Spirit would include it in God’s word, when we consider what Jesus subsequently said to his disciples about the same issue:
(Luke 22:35–38 NKJV) And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” (36) Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. (37) For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.” (38) So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
We are challenged to know what to make of this. Previously, Jesus told his delegates to take no provision for the journeys onto which he sent them; but now he says to take them. This seems to free us from his initial instruction about taking nothing so we will have to trust his provision. And perhaps it does; but let’s not jump to any conclusions about this yet, because in the same breath he is telling them to “sell” their garment and to buy a “sword.”
In this passage, Jesus is actually telling his close followers to arm themselves with physical, lethal weapons—with the intention of using them. This doesn’t sound at all like him. So what do we make of it? Let’s read on to try to see how this fits into the context. We pick up the story at the point of Jesus’s late-night arrest:
(Luke 22:49–50 NKJV) When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” (50) And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
(Matthew 26:51–53 NKJV) And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. (52) But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. (53) Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?”
What are we to make of this? Initially, Jesus told them to get a sword—to sell your garment if necessary and to buy one. But now he is saying, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” At least his second statement sounds consistent with what Jesus had said throughout the remainder of his ministry. It is a simple application of the law of sowing and reaping, the principle he had imparted so profoundly in his classroom—the Sermon on the Mount: what you sow is what you will reap! If you sow violence with lethal weapons, you can only reap the same.
Why did Jesus change from, “buy a sword” to, “put away your sword”? Why, if he told them to bring it, did he now tell them not to use it or they would die by it? Instead of trying to answer this through guesswork, let’s read the passage in between his two statements to see if anything happened to bring about this change:
(Matthew 26:36 NKJV) Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”
This is a very interesting assignment for his apprentices: sit while I pray. It doesn’t sound too difficult. And at times I’m sure he says this to us today, seeing he “always lives to make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:25 NKJV); and seeing he wants us to cast all our cares—worries, anxieties, and mental pressures—onto him (1 Pet. 5:7). However, we should read on to get the full picture …
(Luke 22:40 NKJV) When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Now he has issued new directives for one final supervised assignment. Would his apprentices prove competent here—showing that they were ready for their future? This was an especially important directive: “pray” so you can overcome “temptation.” Had they really “heard” him warning them earlier that they were about to be severely tested?
(Matthew 26:31 NKJV) Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
Now Jesus not only repeats the warning, but shows them the best way to prepare for it: pray—just like he was about to do. Let’s see how seriously they took this mission:
(Luke 22:41–46 NKJV) And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed … (45) When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. (46) Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
The apprentices seemed to fail in this simple supervised assignment. As we read on in the passages that describe the critical events that ensued that evening, we see that when the pressure came, they all “deserted him and fled” (Mat. 26:56 NLT). They failed in the prayer assignment he gave them, and thus they failed to overcome the temptation about which he warned them. Perhaps we all need to learn from this; we can easily overlook the seriousness of the temptations that await us, and that Jesus warns us to prepare for in prayer.
(Matthew 26:40 NKJV) Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?
In saying this, Jesus is showing us the time he took in prayer. Maybe the “one hour” is symbolic, and maybe he said it to Peter specifically because of Peter’s unwise boast: “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny you!” but “so said all the disciples” (Mat. 26:35 NKJV). Nevertheless, I regularly put it into practice quite literally; I find that an hour of prayer, word confession, and exercising my Holy Spirit given prayer language, edifies me and brings a freshness to the “power” clothing “from on high” (that Jesus promised us) (Luke 24:49 ESV).
The disciples didn’t pray; they subsequently failed the test of temptation. What about Jesus? He did pray through the hour. What was the outcome for him?
(Luke 22:41–44 NKJV) … He knelt down and prayed, (42) saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (43) Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. (44) And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
I find this passage to be a key that unlocks many mysteries. Primarily, it is the perfect picture of what grace is. Grace is not a synonym for mercy. Mercy is like forgiveness; it’s when God doesn’t give us what we deserve: punishment—negative consequences to our own sin and unwise choices. Grace on the other hand, gives us what we don’t deserve—including the “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” salvation, etc.
“Grace” is defined in Strongs concordance as: “The divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life.” This is talking about God’s empowerment, not his mercy. “Grace” means that when we meet God, and when we experience the inexpressible light that emanates from his love—as demonstrated on the cross—that we melt in yieldedness; and that our hearts change to want to be holy like he is. “Grace” then empowers us to put away sin, and to live in a way that truly reflects God’s holy image; “grace” conforms us to (forms us with Jesus in his resurrection to) the image of his Son (See: Rom. 8:29 APE, GWT).
Holy scripture says that God’s grace enabled Jesus to go like a lamb to the cross:
(Hebrews 2:9 NKJV) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
I believe that the grace by which Jesus underwent “the suffering of death”—where God called him to “taste death for everyone”—was imparted to Jesus in his time of prayer—by the angel who “appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him.” (Or at least it was pictured for us in the angel’s strengthening touch.) I also believe that this is what enabled him to change 180 degrees on the topic of the sword: first, “bring a sword,” then after the angel’s visit in prayer, “put away the sword,” or you will “die by the sword.” It also explains why the disciples failed in time of temptation but Jesus succeeded; they didn’t pray until they found “grace to help in time of need” at God’s “throne of grace”; but Jesus did (Heb. 4:16 NKJV).
Jesus rose from his empowering time of prayer, corrected his trainees one last time, and then meekly submitted himself to those who came to arrest him. The rest is history:
(Acts 8:32 NLT) “… He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.”
Today, I encourage you to heed Jesus’s final pre-cross supervised mission to his disciples: remember to watch and pray with him for one hour. Do this as a routine, but especially when you are facing temptations, preparing for ministry, or if the Holy Spirit warns you that a test is coming.
If Jesus needed to “pray through” before his greatest test, how much more do we need to do it? If Jesus needed “strengthening” from an angel, how much more do we need it? He clearly demonstrated the transforming power of God’s supernatural touch and grace. Without pretending to know everything about the interesting changes in his statements about the swords, at least we can see the difference watching and praying can make. Let’s leave all the intricacies up to him to explain, and today simply focus on the final supervised mission:
“Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:40 NKJV)
Let’s simply do this out of heartfelt, humble obedience—saying with Jesus, “Not my will but yours be done”; and hopefully, we will never hear him say to us:
“What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? (Mat. 26:40 NKJV)
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