why do you think Tom wanted also words and guns to be read
Answers
Explanation:
An Obscure Saying
Luke 22:35-38 is a troublesome text for scholars, pastors, or anyone trying to correlate the obscure “call to arms” found in this passage with Jesus’ clear teaching and example elsewhere. A recent doctoral dissertation on this pericope calls it “one of the most enigmatic texts in the gospels.” The setting is the final week of Jesus’ life. Having just celebrated the Passover with his disciples, Jesus warns them of his impending betrayal and of Peter’s threefold denial. He then cautions them concerning difficulties to come: “Then Jesus said, ‘When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?’ ‘Nothing,’ they answered. 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.’” The disciples then produce two swords, which prompts Jesus to respond, “That’s enough!” (NIV)
What are we to make of this peculiar exchange? Christian gun-rights advocates in the blogosphere commonly argue that this passage legitimizes the use of lethal force in self-defense. They interpret Jesus’ words as a call for his disciples to arm themselves and to be ready to use these weapons against those who threaten to harm them. Most commentaries, on the other hand, reject this interpretation (see below), because it is extremely difficult to reconcile with what Jesus consistently teaches (non-retaliation) and models (willing self-sacrifice). My previous post on this topic (“Seek the Welfare of the City”) already laid out some of this argument, so I won’t repeat myself here. However, I do want to consider in more detail the incident which most illumines Jesus’ obscure comment in Luke 22:36 on acquiring swords: his arrest in Gethsemane, which occurred only a few hours later.