“No More of This!”

Whenever there is a discussion of gun rights and gun control, there is always at least one fellow Christian who will quote Luke 22:36 as support for gun rights. The passage has Jesus saying, “But 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.”

It was one of those verses plucked to support a position, but in order to support that position, the reader is required to dismiss the whole passage.

The story the author of Luke is telling occurs the evening of Passover, after the last supper, and concerns Jesus being apprehended by temple police due to Judas Iscariot’s betrayal.

If you read verse 36 in context of the rest of the passage, you will eventually come to verses 47 through 53.

This is how it reads:

⁴⁷ While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; ⁴⁸ but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?” ⁴⁹ When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” ⁵⁰ Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. ⁵¹ But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. ⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? ⁵³ When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”

Did you notice what happened when you read just a little further into the story? Jesus is asked if his disciples should use their swords, but before being able to answer, one of his faithful disciples decides to use his sword. Jesus cries out, “No more!” and heals the individual his disciples injures.

Just as “a well regulated militia” in the Second Amendment is either completely ignored or bastardized to mean something it doesn’t, so Luke 22:36 is bastardized to mean something it does not mean and the rest of the passage is completely ignored.

If the author of Luke is calling for gun ownership, the author is also calling for guns not to be used.

I suppose someone will reply to this, pointing out Cain killed Abel with a stone and that evil is in the heart, not in the tool. True. Of course, this ignores the fact that guns are specifically manufactured, advertised, and used to kill others. Rocks are just naturally occurring formations. When we  live in a culture that glamorizes rocks and we find ourselves with a National Rock Association advocating for more rocks in more hands and we are faced with an epidemic of mass stonings in our schools, movie theaters, churches, and other places, then perhaps we have an argument worthy of debate.

Either way, the author of Luke clearly recorded Jesus as saying “No more of this!”