“When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing?”
The full verse · Luke 22:35 · KJV
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Asked by
Jesus: the Son of God and promised Messiah, speaking to His disciples at the Last Supper, just after warning Peter that he would deny Him three times (Luke 22:34)
Asked to
Disciples: "the twelve apostles" (Luke 22:14), at the table; Jesus reminds them of a time He sent them out without purse, scrip, and shoes, "And they said, Nothing" (Luke 22:35)
The Scene
At the Last Supper, after warning Peter that he would deny Him three times before the cock crowed, Jesus turns to all the disciples (Luke 22:34-35).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJesus was about to tell His disciples that hard days were coming. Before He did, He asked them to remember. When He had sent them out with nothing, had they gone without? Barnes explains the question: "Did not God fully provide for you? He refers to this to convince them that his words were true; that their past experience should lead them to put confidence in him and in God." The question builds their trust on what they had already seen before it prepares them for what they had not yet seen.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThey answered in one word: "Nothing" (Luke 22:35). Then Jesus said, "But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one" (Luke 22:36). He explained that Scripture must be fulfilled in Him, "And he was reckoned among the transgressors" (Luke 22:37). When they said, "Lord, behold, here are two swords," He answered, "It is enough" (Luke 22:38).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsThe "purse" (ballantion) was a money bag. The "scrip" (pera) was, in Thayer's words, "a wallet (a leather sack, in which travellers and shepherds carried their provisions)." Jesus had sent the twelve out taking nothing for the journey (Luke 9:3), and Luke 10:4 uses the same three words, "purse, nor scrip, nor shoes," when He sent out the seventy. Barnes points to the parallel instructions in Matthew 10:9-10.
Barnes explains the change in Luke 22:36. Before, their journeys were short and in their own country. "But now they were to go into the wide world, among strangers, trials, dangers, and wants."
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows God's faithfulness as the foundation for hard days ahead. The disciples had gone out with nothing and come back lacking nothing. Jesus wanted that memory in their hearts as He went to the cross and they went into the world. Matthew Henry writes, "It is good for us often to review the providences of God that have been concerning us all our days, and to observe how we have got through the straits and difficulties we have met with."
The change Jesus announces is not because God would stop caring for them. It is because Jesus Himself was about to be "reckoned among the transgressors" (Luke 22:37). Barnes says the words about the sword are not "a specific, positive command to procure a sword, but an intimation that great dangers were before them," and Luke soon shows Jesus stopping the use of a sword and healing the wounded servant (Luke 22:49-51).
Look Closer
Why did Jesus remind the disciples of their earlier mission?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, when You sent me out before, You took care of me; what do You want me to remember about Your faithfulness as I face what is ahead?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Jesus asked the disciples to look back before He told them to get ready. Why might remembering God's past care matter when you face a hard season?
- Tell about a time when you had less than you thought you needed and found you lacked nothing.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Take time to look back. Jesus asked, "lacked ye any thing?" so His disciples would remember what God had already done. You can ask yourself the same question about the seasons God has brought you through.
Let that memory steady you for what is ahead. Jesus did not promise the disciples an easy road. He told them plainly that things were changing. But the God who provided before was still the same God.
This does not mean you should never plan or prepare. Jesus Himself told them, "But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it" (Luke 22:36). Trust in God and wise preparation go together. And His words about the sword are not a call to take up arms for Him, as Luke shows when He stops the sword and heals the wounded man (Luke 22:50-51).
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