#137 Luke 22:35-38 The Last Supper – He Was Numbered with the Transgressors
On August 20, 2023 by Amy BurginJoy:
Episode #137 Luke 22:35-38
Welcome
Amy:
Welcome to The Christgazing Podcast. We are so glad you are here! I’m Amy Burgin.
Joy:
I’m Joy Burgin.
Amy:
Christgazing, kind of like stargazing, is the act of looking steadily and intently at Jesus. This podcast makes room for that. Amid a world of many words, we make space here for the God-breathed Words, the best words, the ones that rightly comfort, correct, and lead us. Each week, we read a portion of scripture several times and create stillness after each reading so we might also be still and know God more.
In his book, The Awe of God, John Bevere wrote,
In the stillness of our souls, in union with the Holy Spirit, we can behold Jesus as we ponder His Word. Gazing into His face illuminates God’s glory in our hearts and subsequently causes our holy awe to level up. We become like Isaiah and the other greats … who encountered Him, walked with Him, pleased Him, received covenant promises, and finished well. Best of all, in beholding Him we are promised to be made “more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
I am so excited to behold Jesus with you today.
We’re in a series that takes us through the book of Luke. In today’s episode, we complete a six-week sub-series titled The Last Supper. We get to see, know, and ponder the way Jesus prepared, thought, and spoke at the last supper, only hours before his arrest.
Pour Out Your Heart to God
Amy:
But before we read, take time to share your heart with God. We do this each week; we draw intimately close to God, pouring out our hearts to him to make room for him to pour out his heart to us. So bring God your thanksgiving, grief, fear, joy, anger, excitement, questions, and concerns in this next minute.
What Does This Passage Say About God?
Joy:
As I read today’s passage, consider the question, what does this say about God?
Luke 22:35-38 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 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. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.
Again?
Luke 22:35-38 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 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. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.
Take the next few moments to consider what this says about God.
[Pause and know]What Does This Passage Say About People?
Joy:
As I reread today’s passage, consider the question, what does this say about people?
Luke 22:35-38 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 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. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.
Take a minute to consider what this says about people.
[Pause and know]Lord, What Would You Have Me Know Or Do Today?
Joy:
As I read for the last time, ask God, “Lord, what would you have me know or do today in response to this passage?” If it helps, put yourself in the narrative.
Luke 22:35-38 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 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. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.
Take a minute to ask God, “Lord, what would you have me know or do in response to this passage?”
[Pause and listen]Blessing
Joy:
Christgazer, the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. And may you keep your face turned toward Jesus today and know him more.
One Response
Amy:
When Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” he was referring to the story we read in Episode #61, Luke 10:1-4 when Jesus sent seventy-two disciples ahead of him to various towns and places Jesus was about to go.
Now he tells disciples to take a purse, a bag, and even a sword.
I don’t think Jesus is talking about a physical sword with which to fight—for later this very night, Peter will draw his sword in an attempt to stop Jesus’ arrest and Jesus will rebuke him and command him to put it away.
No, Ephesians 6:12 teaches us our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of the heavenly realms. The kind of sword with which we are to use in such a spiritual battle is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17)—the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
Jesus is preparing his disciples for a spiritual battle that will come that later night in his violent arrest. I
n today’s passage Jesus quoted Isaiah 53 when he said, “It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
I think Jesus wanted their focus to fall on Isaiah 53. But like me, their focus fell on the physical things when they count their physical swords and see that they have two. No matter, Jesus remains focused on the spiritual task at hand and he knows the disciples will come to understand.
So I’d like to close today by reading Isaiah 53 to you—the word of God—a prophecy about Jesus—scripture on the mind of Christ on the night of his arrest.
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This is the word of the Lord.
Closing
Amy:
You can find a transcript of this episode and all our episodes at amyburgin.com. Joy and I will be back again next week to go Christgazing together. Until then, don’t forget, when you put your trust in Christ, you are one in whom he dwells and delights, a dearly loved child of God. You are royalty in his strong and unshakeable kingdom. Though trouble abounds, Christ prevails, and so do you.
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