St. Luke alone records this saying. No other like it is to be found in any Gospel. Once, indeed, in commissioning the Twelve, Christ used the startling expression, "I came not to send peace, but a sword;" but there the whole context shows that He speaks not of the purpose, but of the result of His coming; so that even that saying hardly helps or illustrates this, where He Himself gives the command, and is understood by them literally, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." This parable of the sword says this to us: "In the world you will have conflict. You will want your sword. Better lack a garment than lack a sword."
Marvel not at the vehemence of the words: there are two reasons for it
I. They contradict flesh and blood. It is painful to be always armed. It makes life a painful effort. What should we think of living in a beleaguered house of having an enemy, secret or open, within the household? What food would nourish, what rest would refresh, on these conditions? How, then, if life itself, how if this fair world, how if this pleasant, converse, this delightful friendship, this seemingly innocent joy, is, to the eye that reads it truly, one insidious snare, or one perilous battlefield? What is existence worth on such terms? Nature speaks thus in her indolence and self-sparing. Scarce two or three in a generation really rise at Christ's call to sell the garment for a sword. If He spoke one whit less vehemently, not one not one in a generation would listen.
II. There is a second reason for this vehemence. Because in this field deception and self-deception are ever busily working, and he who might gird himself for mere difficulty is in danger of relaxing effort under illusion. It is the master art of the devil to persuade us that there is no battle, that all are agreed. It is a mighty responsibility, if Christ be true, for a Christian to be about in this world. In proportion to his intermixture with it, in proportion to his place and his talent and his influence, is his want of the sword. Better, for him at all events, no garment than no sword. For he must fight either against the world or for it. He cannot be neutral. Weaker men may pass through it and escape notice. But he is one of its constituents, for his day one of its makers. Might he but desire to buy of Christ the indispensable sword.
C. J. Vaughan, Good Words,1870, p. 612; see also Half Hours in the Temple Church.
References: Luke 22:37. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ii., p. 159. Luke 22:39-46. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. v., p. 70; Preacher's Monthly,vol. i., p. 277. Luke 22:41; Luke 22:42. Homiletic Magazine,vol. xvi., p. 228; Christian World Pulpit,vol. xv., p. 250. Luke 22:42. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ix., p. 200. Luke 22:43. J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes,4th series, p. 30.