<p>22:49 <i>And when they that were about him saw what would follow, they said: Lord, shall we strike with the sword?</i>- Peter asked if he should strike with the sword (Mt.) and then did so without waiting for a response. This is rather typical of us all. We assume Divine response, and thus play God.</p><p>Peter&rsquo;s objection to the Lord&rsquo;s going to die at Jerusalem surfaced several times. He wanted to build tents so that Jesus wouldn&rsquo;t go down from the mountain to the strange <i>exodos</i> which the prophets declared. When he wanted to &ldquo;smite with the sword&rdquo; in the Garden, it was to get the Lord out of the cross. Peter was willing to suffer, to fight, to even die in what would have been a hopeless combat, outnumbered dozens to one. But he just didn&rsquo;t want the cross to be the way. It is recorded that when Peter saw &ldquo;what would follow&rdquo; in the Garden, he wanted to start a fight in order to at least have some slim chance of avoiding that inevitable crucifixion which now looked so certain (Lk. 22:49). He didn&rsquo;t want the path of events to &ldquo;follow&rdquo; to that end. He again denied the connection between following and cross carrying. Later, the Lord told Peter in categoric terms that he personally was to follow Him to the death of the cross. And Peter turns around, sees John following, and gets side-tracked by the question of what the Lord thinks about John. As with us, quasi spiritual reasoning and issues were allowed to cloud and dilute the essential and terrifying truth- that we are called to bear Christ&rsquo;s cross to the end.</p><p>An essay in unquestioning loyalty to the Lord and Master is found in Lk. 22:49: &quot;When they which were about him saw what would follow (i.e. arrest and attack), they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?&quot;. That grim-faced band of men standing in a protective circle around their Lord knew that they had no chance of victory against the mob with Judas, armed to the teeth as they were. Yet they were willing, to a man, to heroically sacrifice their lives- the inevitable result of starting a fight- as a token of loyalty to a man who humanly speaking was a lost cause, and whose demise seemed so unexpected to them compared to their hopes of a glorious Kingdom being established there and then.&nbsp;</p>