Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren

 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."  But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death."  Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."

And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  So they said, "Nothing."  Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:  'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'  For the things concerning Me have an end."  So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords."  And He said to them, "It is enough." 

- Luke 22:31-38

 Yesterday, we read that at the Last Supper, after Jesus instituted the Eucharist, there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.'  But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as the One who serves.  But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."  But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death."  Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."   When Jesus says, "Satan has asked for you," this you is in the plural form, meaning that Satan has asked for all the disciples.  In the next verse, in Jesus' statement, "I have prayed for you," you is in the singular -- meaning that Jesus has prayed especially for Simon Peter.  Because Simon Peter's faith was the strongest, my study bible says, he would be tested the most.  "When you have returned to Me" -- see John 21:15-17.   That Peter is told, "Strengthen your brethren," refers not just to the other disciples, but rather to all the faithful until Christ's return.

And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  So they said, "Nothing."  Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:  'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'  For the things concerning Me have an end."  So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords."  And He said to them, "It is enough."  My study bible says that Jesus' mention of a sword is not meant to be understood literally.  It refers, it says, to the living word of God in the battle against sin (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12).  St. Ambrose gives us yet another meaning:  that to give up one's garment and buy a sword refers to surrendering the body to the sword of martyrdom.  Because, as with so many passages in the Gospels, the disciples misunderstand -- interpreting the words literally and beginning to speak of swords, Jesus abruptly ends the discussion.  "It is enough" is better translated as "Enough of this!" or "That's enough!"  (see Deuteronomy 3:26, Mark 14:41). 

In Jesus' words there is a sense conveyed to the disciples of imminent danger.  He warns them all that "Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat."   He tells them that now, in contrast to the time they were sent out on their first mission, "he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:  'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'  For the things concerning Me have an end."    Jesus quotes from the prophesy of Isaiah 53:12 -- "Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."  Jesus becomes One who is numbered with the transgressors, an enemy of the state and of the people.  But in so doing, He also becomes intercessor for all those seen in the same light, the outcasts, the transgressors.  Since "a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher" (6:40) and "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you" (John 15:18), then Jesus is now teaching them about the time that is at hand, the time of the initiation of the present age, in which conflict becomes the norm.  Persecution and hatred are all a part of the work of the judgment.  To stand up for the truth -- to use that sword of which He speaks -- is also to encounter hatred and dissension and betrayal.  He warns the disciples several times in various places in the Gospels that this is the reality that is now theirs, the time that has come to be and will be initiated through His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  We, as followers of Christ, can take His words to heart that He tells to Peter:  "Strengthen your brethren."  This is the call to those of faith; we must help one another to remain strong in the ways He has taught, in the things He has taught us.  We must help one another as disciples, and we shore up that Kingdom that is both within us and among us.  It's not that we can, of ourselves, withstand all the assaults both spiritual and worldly that will come to test us.  But we can help one another.   At the very end of John's Gospel, Jesus tells Peter, "Feed My lambs."  Repeatedly asking him, "Do you love Me?" the answer comes from Christ:  if we love Him, we will feed His lambs, feed His sheep.  And that is what we can do through all things.  We must seek to feed one another with the good things of faith, to strengthen one another in love and joy and peace and truth.   This is the word He gives us as faithful, and it is what we must do for Him and for one another if we love Him.