This quote is easily taken out of context exactly as you have done, by omitting earlier verses of Matthew 26 and 26:53-54. Taking it out of context makes it seem Jesus is teaching men should not use swords to defend themselves. The purpose of Messiah's first coming was not only to reveal incredible truths of God, but also to allow Himself as God in the flesh to be sacrificed for the sins of all men as the Lamb of God. Jesus taught this to his disciples several times, but it was not an easy teaching for them to understand and accept. This was exactly the Passover when the Romans had taken away the power of the occupied Israel to execute capital punishment by stoning, and the Roman capital punishment by crucifixion became law. The Messiah's death by crucifixion is clearly prophesied in David's Psalm 22, written a thousand years before that. Crucifixion is very visible suffocating to death before an entire city of witnesses, which cannot be faked or mistaken. This was exactly the Passover when the time for the Lamb of God Himself to be sacrificed was ready in other ways as well. The same week and night before his arrest Jesus referred to His impending death by crucifixion (as given in Matthew 26 verses 1, 12, 20, 25, 28, 31, and 32). Peter was there every time, but also a zealot who hoped Messiah would establish His kingdom immediately and overthrow the Roman government of Israel. Peter was thickheaded like many of us, and misunderstood the warning that Christ's followers should soon be prepared to defend themselves with swords (Luke 22:36), to include resisting the Romans. He used his sword to defend his own hope for freedom, represented by the person of Messiah himself. Peter depended on his sword to get personal liberty, rather than submitting to the will of God about that ultimate Passover providing the actual sacrifice of the Lamb of God for all men's sins. Then Jesus rebuked Peter's attempt to thwart fulfillment of God's many prophecies by saying (verses 52-54): "Put away your sword... Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. Don■t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?■\"