24 And there was also a strife among them which of them should be held to be [the] greatest. 25 And he said to them, The kings of the nations rule over them, and they that exercise authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But ye [shall] not [be] thus; but let the greater among you be as the younger, and the leader as he that serves. 27 For which [is] greater, he that is at table or he that serves? [Is] not he that is at table? But I am in the midst of you as the one that serves. 28 But ye are they who have persevered with me in my temptations. 29 And I appoint unto you, as my Father has appointed unto me, a kingdom, 30 that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 22:24-30
Commentary on Luke 22:21-38
(Read Luke 22:21-38)
How unbecoming is the worldly ambition of being the greatest, to the character of a follower of Jesus, who took upon him the form of a servant, and humbled himself to the death of the cross! In the way to eternal happiness, we must expect to be assaulted and sifted by Satan. If he cannot destroy, he will try to disgrace or distress us. Nothing more certainly forebodes a fall, in a professed follower of Christ, than self-confidence, with disregard to warnings, and contempt of danger. Unless we watch and pray always, we may be drawn in the course of the day into those sins which we were in the morning most resolved against. If believers were left to themselves, they would fall; but they are kept by the power of God, and the prayer of Christ. Our Lord gave notice of a very great change of circumstances now approaching. The disciples must not expect that their friends would be kind to them as they had been. Therefore, he that has a purse, let him take it, for he may need it. They must now expect that their enemies would be more fierce than they had been, and they would need weapons. At the time the apostles understood Christ to mean real weapons, but he spake only of the weapons of the spiritual warfare. The sword of the Spirit is the sword with which the disciples of Christ must furnish themselves.