“It is enough.”

The last table talk dialogue recorded by Luke in his Gospel is often the most disputed and complex of all. Jesus tells the disciples to do something that is contrary to what he has taught them so far in his teaching. Jesus taught his disciples to not take any kind of purse, or money or weapon when they went out to minister in the community (Luke 9:1-6).

Now Jesus tells them to do all the things he told them not to do: go buy a purse, buy a backpack, and buy a sword. Upon hearing about the sword, the disciples say, “We have two.” Jesus reply? “It is enough.”

As we know it didn’t take long for the sword to be used as one of the followers of Jesus cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant (Luke 22:49-52). Jesus response was swift: “No more violence.”

It is also easy to know when we are among sinners who trust their own street smarts instead of the way of Jesus. This is the point of this story about the purse, and backpack and the sword. Luke identifies the reason the disciples were encouraged to disobey the teaching of Jesus was to demonstrate that Jesus was among sinners (Luke 22:37).

Jesus is still among sinners and still inviting us to his table of forgiveness. How often have we gone our own way? How often have we thought we needed more than one sword? How often have we decided to trust in our material resources instead of God?

Come to the table and dine.

Ronald Friesen ©2015