Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Luke · About this commentary
I Prayed for You
Luke 22:31-38
31 The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, · WEB
Peter is told he has been asked for, that he will fail, and that he is to strengthen the others afterward.
"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat" Luke 22:31.
Only this Gospel records it, and it is one of the most remarkable sentences in the passion narrative.
The doubled name is this book's mark of tenderness under correction, as with Martha Luke 10:41. And the you in asked to have all of you is plural — the request was for the whole group. Then everything after it is singular, aimed at one man.
Asked to have is a formal word, the language of a demand made and granted. Something was requested, and permission was given, which puts the night that follows inside a frame the reader has seen before in Scripture Job 1:12.
Sifting shakes wheat violently to separate it from the chaff, and nothing about the image says the wheat is destroyed. What it says is that the shaking is severe and that it sorts.
"But I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn't fail" Luke 22:32.
The prayer is already made — past tense, before the failure. And it is worth noticing exactly what was asked. Not that Peter would not deny him; he does, three times. What was prayed for was that his faith would not give out, which is a different thing, and it holds.
"You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers." The return is assumed, not hoped for. He is given a job for afterward while he is still protesting that he will not need one — and in the second volume that is precisely what he does, standing up at Pentecost to steady everybody else.
"Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!" Luke 22:33. He means it. The sincerity of the pledge is not in question and is worth nothing three hours later.
"The rooster will by no means crow today until you deny that you know me three times" Luke 22:34.
"When I sent you out without purse, bag, and sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing" Luke 22:35.
The last exchange is this Gospel's alone and it is difficult. He reminds them of the mission where they carried nothing and were provided for — and then reverses the instruction. "But now, whoever has a purse, let him take it... whoever has none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword" Luke 22:36.
The reason given is the change in conditions: "this which is written must still be fulfilled in me: 'He was counted with transgressors'" Luke 22:37 Isaiah 53:12. From tonight he is an outlaw, and the hospitality that carried them through Galilee is over.
They said, "Lord, behold, here are two swords." He said to them, "That is enough" Luke 22:38.
Two swords for eleven men is not an armament, and the reply closes the subject rather than approving it. Anyone reading the instruction as a call to arms has to explain why two is enough — and why, when one of them is used within the hour, he stops it and repairs the damage Luke 22:51.
held with reason What this mark means