Summary
It Is Enough
When Jesus first sent out the Twelve in Luke 9 and then the seventy in Luke 10, He gave the strangest packing instructions imaginable. No staff, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra tunic. They were to travel without provisions, to depend wholly on the Lord who sent them, and to shake the dust from their feet at any town that would not receive them. When they returned, they returned with joy. Everything had been provided. They lacked nothing.
In the upper room, on the night of His betrayal, Jesus calls His disciples to remember that mission. "When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?" Luke 22:35. Their answer is simple: nothing. But then He tells them something is changing. "Now the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one" Luke 22:36. The hour of His passion is at hand, and the days ahead for those who follow Him will not be easy. He is sending them out again, but now into open conflict.
What sword does Christ mean? Not an iron blade for an earthly battle. The disciples expected a Messiah who would wield military power and overthrow worldly rulers, but Jesus is unlike any other king. He quotes Isaiah—"He was numbered with the transgressors" Isaiah 53:12—and tells them this very prophecy is being fulfilled in Him. The King is going to the cross to bear the sin of the lawless. The weapon He places in His disciples' hands is the Word of God itself: "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword" Hebrews 4:12, the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" Ephesians 6:17.
This sword cuts in two directions, and both are necessary. It cuts the heart with the law, exposing us as the very transgressors for whom Jesus was numbered among the lawless. And it heals with the gospel, declaring that Jesus went to the cross bearing our sin out of grace, love, and mercy—counting it His joy because it was the victory over sin. The Word wounds and the Word heals; it kills and it makes alive. This is the weapon Christ the King hands to His Church.
When the disciples answer, "Lord, look, here are two swords," Jesus replies, "It is enough" Luke 22:38. By every earthly measure, two swords are absurdly inadequate. But the battle Christians fight is not against flesh and blood, but "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness" Ephesians 6:12. For that warfare, the living Word of God is enough—because it is God's own power, and because Christ Himself, by the Spirit, lives in those He sends Galatians 2:20.
We rarely feel prepared for the trials of daily life, and yet the "It is Enough" 11-26-23 reminder of Christ's promise stands: those whom He sends lack nothing. Claimed in the waters of Baptism, fed at His Table with His own body and blood, and daily nourished by His holy and active Word, the baptized go out armed with the sword of the Spirit. Whatever battle awaits, the Word of our King is sufficient. It is enough.
Video citations
- "It is Enough" 11-26-23 — I love traveling. I love traveling and I love anticipating what I'm going to see, what I'm going to do. And in order to travel any time you go anywhere, you have to pack. You pack, you pack a bag.…