Luke 22:21 - Meaning and Application

Here Christ talked with his disciples after supper, and much of what he said is recorded only here. John’s Gospel adds other parts of the conversation. We should learn from this to make our table talk useful and edifying, so it can strengthen those who hear. Especially after the Lord’s table, Christians should speak in ways that keep one another in a proper frame of mind.

Jesus spoke about matters of great weight, and they fit the moment well. First, he spoke about the one who would betray him, who was already among them. By placing this after the Lord’s Supper, Luke makes it plain that Judas, one of the twelve, did receive the bread and wine. Even after that holy meal was finished, Jesus said, “Look, the hand of the one who betrays me is with me on the table.” There have been people who ate bread with Christ and still betrayed him.

Jesus also foretold that the betrayal would happen. He said, “The Son of Man is going as it has been determined” (Luke 22:22). He was going to the place where he would be handed over, because he was given up by God’s plan and foreknowledge. Judas could not have delivered him up unless God had allowed it. Still, Christ was not forced into suffering. He went to it willingly and said, “Look, I come.”

At the same time, Jesus warned the traitor. He said, “Woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.” The patience of Christ and the purpose of God do not excuse anyone who has a hand in his suffering. Judas’s sin was no less sinful because God had already determined that Christ would be betrayed. His punishment was no less deserved either.

Jesus also stirred the rest of the disciples to examine themselves. He said it was one of them, but he did not name which one. So they began to ask among themselves who could do such a low and wicked thing to such a good Master. They did not ask, “Is it you?” or “Is it him?” They asked, “Is it I?” That is how a humble heart responds when sin is mentioned.

Then came the dispute among them about who would be the greatest. This was a sad sign of later struggles for power in the church. It was also deeply out of place beside their recent concern about betrayal. A few moments earlier they were asking who would be a traitor, and now they were asking who would be a prince. The same hearts can hold both humility and pride, and that is how deceitful human nature is.

Jesus answered them gently, not harshly, though he had often corrected this same fault before. He said their behavior was like the kings of the Gentiles, who love worldly show and power. Those rulers push their authority around, and even their flatterers call them “benefactors,” people who do good. Some rulers want to be thought of as serving the public, even while they are serving themselves. Yet Jesus pointed out that doing good is more honorable than looking important. It is also the truest path to greatness. His disciples would really be benefactors to the world by bringing the gospel to it, and that would be far greater than worldly rule.

Jesus also showed that such ambition was unlike his own way and unlike the way his followers should live. “You shall not be so,” he told them (Luke 22:26, 27). His kingdom was never meant to rest on outward pomp or secular power. He called them to serve. If church leaders chase outward honor and lean on worldly influence, they lower their calling. That would be a sad decline, like Israel wanting a king like the nations around them, instead of the Lord as their King.

He then gave them a clear rule: the greater person should be like the younger, both in humility and in labor. The older should not think age gives a right to ease. Instead, age should bring more willingness to work for others. The one who leads should be like the one who serves, ready for the lowest and hardest tasks if the common good requires it. His point was plain, the highest rank in his kingdom is found in the lowest kind of service.

Jesus backed up this rule with his own example. He asked which is greater, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves. The answer is obvious. Yet among his disciples, Christ was like one who waits at table.

He was far from living in ease or taking a place of honor by making others wait on him. Instead, he was ready to serve them in any loving way, as shown when he washed their feet. Should those claim the style of princes who call themselves followers of the one who took the form of a servant?

They should also not chase worldly honor and greatness, because he had better honors waiting for them, honors of a different kind, a kingdom, a feast, and a throne for each of them. In that kingdom, all would share alike, so there would be no reason to compete for first place (Luke 22:28-30). Notice Christ’s praise of his disciples for their faithfulness to him. That praise itself was honor enough, and they did not need to seek anything greater.

He says it with warmth and approval, as if to say, “You are the ones who have stayed with me in my trials. You stood by me when others left me and turned away.” Christ had his own trials. He was despised and rejected, insulted and mocked, and he endured sinners who spoke against him. Yet his disciples remained with him and shared in his suffering.

They could give him only a little help or service, but he kindly accepted it that they stayed with him. Here he acknowledges their loyalty, even though that loyalty was itself made possible by his grace. His disciples had often failed in their duty. They were confused, forgetful, and often made mistakes, yet their Master passed all that by. He did not blame them for their weaknesses, but gave them this lasting testimony, “You are the ones who have continued with me.” He praises them at the moment of parting to show how ready he is to look kindly on those whose hearts are true toward him.

He also tells them what reward he has planned for their faithfulness: “I appoint, or I bequeath, to you a kingdom.” Another way to say it is, “I appoint to you, just as my Father has appointed a kingdom to me, that you may eat and drink at my table.” This can be understood, first, of what should be done for them in this world. God gave his Son a kingdom among people, the gospel church, with Christ as its living, life-giving, ruling head.

This kingdom was appointed to the apostles and to those who would follow them in gospel ministry. They were to enjoy the comfort and privileges of the gospel, help pass those blessings on through gospel ordinances, sit in positions of authority in the church, and, in a public and exhorting way, judge the tribes of Israel that remained in unbelief. They were also to declare God’s wrath against them and guide the spiritual Israel through the church’s ordered discipline, carried out with gentleness and love. This was the honor reserved for them.

Or, second, the words speak of what will be done for them in the life to come, and that seems to be the main meaning. Let them keep serving in this world, and their promotion will come in the next. God will give them the kingdom, where they will surely have the richest food and drink, for they will eat and drink at Christ’s table in his kingdom, as he had already spoken of (Luke 22:16, 18). They will enjoy the joys and pleasures that are the reward of his service and suffering. They will have full satisfaction in soul from seeing and enjoying God, and they will share the best company, like guests at a feast, in perfect love.

They will also receive the highest honor. They will not only be cared for at the royal table, like Mephibosheth at David’s, but will be raised to royal dignity itself. They will sit with Christ on his throne (Revelation 3:21). On the great day, they will sit on thrones as those who share in Christ’s judgment, approving and praising his judgment of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the saints will judge the world (1 Corinthians 6:2), they will judge the church even more so.

Now he turns to Peter’s denial. In this part of the discussion, we notice, first, the warning Christ gives Peter about the devil’s purpose against him and the other apostles (Luke 22:31). The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, pay attention to what I say. Satan has asked to have you, all of you, so that he may sift you like wheat.” Peter, who usually spoke for the rest when addressing Christ, is here made the one who must listen for them. What was meant as a warning to all, that they would all stumble because of him, is directed especially to Peter, because he was most exposed to the tempter’s attack.

Satan had likely accused the disciples before God as self-seeking men, claiming they followed Christ only to gain wealth and advancement in this world, just as he accused Job. God answered, “No, they are honest and upright men.” Satan then asked permission to test them, especially Peter. He wanted to have them so that he could sift them, to show they were chaff and not wheat. The troubles that were coming would test them and reveal what was really in them, but that was not all. Satan also wanted to use those troubles to draw them into sin and throw them into confusion, like sifting grain so the chaff rises and the wheat is shaken out.

We should note that Satan could not sift them unless God allowed it. He asked to have them, just as he once asked permission to test Job. He had challenged them, claiming he could prove them to be hypocrites, and Peter especially, since he seemed the boldest of them. Some think Satan asked permission to sift them as a punishment for their arguing over which of them was greatest, a dispute in which Peter may have been especially heated.

Second, Christ gives Peter special encouragement for this trial: “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.” Satan was allowed to make his strongest attack on Peter in particular, so Peter would be assaulted most violently. Yet Christ prayed that his faith would not fail, meaning not fail completely and finally. If faith is kept alive in a time of temptation, then even if we fall, we will not be cast down forever. Faith can put out Satan’s fiery darts.

True believers may have many failings in faith, but their faith will not fail altogether or finally. It remains as a seed, as a root, still in them. The faith of Christ’s disciples is kept from sinking by the mediation and intercession of Jesus Christ. If they were left to themselves, they would fail. But they are kept by God’s power and by Christ’s prayer. Christ’s intercession is not only for believers in general, but for each one in particular, as when he says, “I have prayed for you.” That should encourage us to pray for ourselves and also move us to pray for others.

Jesus also gave Peter a charge that applied to his failure and recovery. “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” means that after Peter was restored by God’s grace and brought to repentance, he was to help restore others too. When a person has been kept from failing, he should work to steady others. When someone has found mercy from God himself, he should encourage others to hope for that same mercy.

Those who fall into sin must be brought back from it. Those who have turned aside must return. Those who have left their first love must do their first works again. And those who are restored by grace should do all they can to strengthen their brothers who are still standing, so they do not fall. See Psalm 51:11-13 and Titus 1:13.

Peter also made a bold claim that he would stay with Christ no matter what it cost. He said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). This was a serious statement, and I believe Peter meant it sincerely at the time. Judas never protested like this against denying Christ, even though he had often been warned, because his heart was already fully set on evil, while Peter’s was set against it.

All true disciples sincerely want to follow Christ wherever he leads them, even into prison, even out of this world. Christ then clearly predicted Peter’s threefold denial. “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me” (Luke 22:34). Peter did not know his own heart, and he needed to be left to himself for a little while so he could see it and never trust it again.

Christ knows us better than we know ourselves. He sees the evil within us, and he sees what we will do before we suspect it. It is a mercy that he knows our weakness better than we do, because then he knows where to give sufficient grace. He also knows how far a temptation will go, and he says, “This far, and no farther.”

Jesus then turned to the condition of all the disciples. He reminded them of the past and asked whether he had failed to care for them. He had already said they were faithful servants (Luke 22:28), and now, as he was about to leave them, he expected them to admit that he had been a kind and careful Master ever since they had left everything to follow him: “When I sent you without purse, did you lack anything?”

He admitted that he had sent them out in a very poor condition, with no money and little provision. He did this because they were not going far or staying long, and because he wanted to teach them to depend on God’s providence, and under that, on the kindness of their friends. If God sends us out into the world that way, we should remember that it is better to begin low than high.

Yet the disciples had to admit that, even so, they had lacked nothing. They had lived as comfortably as ever, and they answered readily, “Nothing, Lord.” It is good for us to look back often on God’s care through all our lives, and to notice how he has brought us through hard places. Christ is a good Master, and his service is good. His servants may be brought low for a time, but he will help them. He may test them, but he will not abandon them. Jehovah-jireh means “the Lord will provide.”

We should count ourselves well provided for and not complain if we have the needs of life, even if we have no luxuries. Even if we live from one day to the next, or depend on the kindness of friends, we should be thankful. The disciples lived on gifts and support, yet they did not complain that their support was uncertain. They honored their Master by admitting that they had wanted nothing.

Jesus then told them that a great change in their circumstances was about to come. He, their Master, was entering into his sufferings, which had often been foretold. “Now what is written about me must be fulfilled: ‘He was numbered with the transgressors’” (Luke 22:37). He must suffer and die like a criminal, among the worst sort of criminals. When that final part is completed, the things written about him will be finished, and he will say, “It is finished.”

That is a comfort to suffering Christians, just as it was to a suffering Christ. Their sufferings were foretold and settled in heaven’s plan, and they will soon end in the joys of heaven. What was written concerning them will have an end, and it will end well, forever well.

Because of that change, the disciples must expect trouble and not suppose they would keep the easy, comfortable life they had known. The scene would change. They would suffer in some measure with their Master, and when he was gone, they must expect to suffer like him. A servant is not greater than his Lord.

They must also expect that friends would not always be so kind and generous to them as before. So Jesus said, in effect, that the one who has a purse should take it, because he may need it and should use it wisely. They must also expect enemies to grow fiercer, so they would need protection as well as supplies. The point was not to encourage trust in weapons, but to show that the times would be dangerous and no one should assume safety without one.

The sword of the Spirit is the real sword Christ’s disciples must prepare with. Since Christ suffered for us, we must arm ourselves with the same mind (1 Peter 4:1). We should prepare for trouble so it does not surprise us, and we should yield ourselves to God’s will in it so our hearts do not resist him. That prepares us better than selling a coat to buy a sword.

The disciples then asked about this and found that they had two swords among them, one of them Peter’s (Luke 22:38). Galileans commonly traveled with swords. Christ did not carry one himself, but he was not against his disciples having them. Still, he showed how little he wanted them to depend on that when he said, “It is enough.” Some take that to be spoken with irony, as if to say, “Two swords among twelve men, that is fine armor indeed, when our enemies are coming in great numbers, each with a sword.”

Yet two swords were enough for those who truly needed none, since they had God himself as the shield of their help and the sword of their excellence (Deuteronomy 33:29).