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, Christ's final Passover meal with His disciples, there was also a dispute among the disciples, 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 twelves 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."   Just as we have observed over the course of the past few readings, beginning with Tuesday's, the Gospel does not tell us that the ultimate source of the evil events surrounding Jesus' Passion are simply the work of men.  Rather, the square blame is placed upon spiritual sources of evil, under the name of Satan, whom elsewhere is called the prince or ruler of this world (John 12:31, 14:30).  As we've seen, from the beginning of the synoptic Gospels and Jesus' temptations by Satan in the wilderness, and through the recent readings, Satan works through the weaknesses and especially the passions of human beings.  We've remarked upon the envy of the religious leaders toward Jesus, the greed of Judas, and the disputes among the disciples as to who would be the greatest among them.  Here, Jesus warns Simon Peter that it is not only he whom Satan has asked for, but all the disciples, as you in the first verse is plural (in Satan has asked for you).  But you in the following verse (in when you have returned to Me) is singular, which my study Bible says indicates that Jesus prayed especially for Simon Peter.  It says that because Peter's faith was the strongest, he would be tested the most.  Regarding Christ's words, "When you have returned to Me," see John 21:15-17.  Strengthen your brethren, my study Bible says, refers not only to the other disciples, but to all the faithful until Christ returns. 

 

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."  Jesus warns the disciples again about what is coming, and that this is a time of evil intent.   He reminds them of the prophecy concerning Him and this time of opposition:  "And He was numbered with the transgressors" (see Isaiah 53:12).  Regarding the sword, my study Bible tells us that we are not to understand this literally (compare to Luke 22:49-51, in which Christ heals the ear of the servant of the high priest).  Rather, it refers to the living word of God in the battle against sin (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12).   My study Bible also cites St. Ambrose, who gives an additional meaning to this text.  St. Ambrose comments that giving up one's garment and buying a sword refers to surrendering the body to the sword of martyrdom.  Because the disciples were thinking of swords literally, Jesus abruptly ends the discussion with the words, "It is enough" -- which are better translated, "Enough of this!"  (See Deuteronomy 3:26, Mark 14:41.)

As we have seen in the readings of this past week, and as indicated above, the Gospel assigns a particular root cause of the complicated machinations against Christ to spiritual forces of evil.  Satan works through human beings, on vulnerabilities and weaknesses, manifest in our passions.  The religious leadership is vulnerable to evil through envy; Judas is vulnerable through greed; and the disciples themselves have just engaged in a very petty and out-of-place dispute over which one of them would be the greatest in Christ's kingdom.  Let us understand that the disciples themselves have no idea what that Kingdom will be or will look like.  They only know they have come into Jerusalem in a Triumphal Entry, Christ has been teaching in the temple daily, and Christ's mysterious prophecies about what is going to happen in Jerusalem have not been things they can completely grasp.   Although they have been warned several times by Jesus, the events that are about to unfold are simply unthinkable to them.  At this point Jesus gives an explicit warning to Peter, but on behalf of all of the apostles, as the you is plural in the Greek:  "Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat."  In other words, Satan wishes to destroy this movement of the followers of Christ.  Jesus then adds (with you in the singular this time, directed toward Peter specifically), "But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."    As the one with the strongest faith, Peter will be tempted with denial in the courtyard of the home of the high priest (Luke 22:54-62), and at the same time Christ entrusts him with the job of strengthening his fellow apostles, and by extension all of us in turn.  Over the course of the past week, in these events in which great spiritual evil is at work (according to our text), we observe some things about spiritual opposition to Christ.  It works, first of all, through temptation, and secondly, it does so by playing on the weaknesses of human beings -- and specifically what are called in traditional spiritual language our passions.  That is, the things we lust for, things of which we make idols of some sort.  This should give us pause to think for a moment that the Gospels do not teach us that we are all to be superheroes who are without a single weakness or flaw.  On the contrary, even Peter, whose faith is arguably the strongest of all of the apostles, will display a weakness upon which temptation plays successfully, even when a servant girl confronts him as one of Christ's followers.  The text tells us that all of the disciples have succumbed to a truly petty and deeply inappropriate dispute about who would be greatest among them.  In other words, to be a human being is to have vulnerabilities and weaknesses.  We should not despair that we are not super human, or do not measure up to the sinlessness of Jesus Christ, who resisted every temptation put His way by Satan (see Luke 4:1-13), and completed His mission in the world with the fullness of perfection.  What the Gospels tell us, on the contrary, is about how much we need Christ, and how this help is always available to us.  Not only are we given examples which teach us why it is so important to understand our own passions and vulnerabilities and weaknesses (and to do something about them; see Matthew 18:6-9), but the Gospels teach us that we have strength and help through the Lord, and the whole host of the saints, which include the angels.  St. Paul writes of his own struggle with what he called a "thorn in the flesh":  "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).  We needn't despair over our state as human beings, because the story of Christ and especially His Passion is all about God working through even the worst of our times, the deepest of our struggles, and in the midst of difficulties.  Our power is in humility, in knowing ourselves and our dependency upon God, and especially this spiritual place from which true strength comes.  This is what we rely on, and what we know we need.