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Why did our Lord Jesus Christ ask his disciples to buy swords, (Luke 22:36) and a minute later, He rebuked Peter for cutting off the ear of the  head priest’s slave?

When the Lord first sent His disciples on a mission, he asked them to carry nothing "Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals" (Lk 10:3-4). Now that the time has come for the Lord to be crucified, He started to show them that the times would be very perilous, so that no man would think himself safe if he had not a sword by his side. But the sword is not one to fight with, as the disciples interpreted it  literally, but the sword is  the living faith.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was preparing the  disciples for the trouble and  tribulations that laid  ahead of them. He wanted them to be armored in the right way, not by material but by spiritual armor. He wanted to stress the very importance of that by telling them to do that even if it were at the  cost of selling their basic needs (clothes for example). In a sense, he wants to tell them that no matter what happens, just persist, stand firm and have faith in me. That is all they needed for victory.  "Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, The shield of your help and the sword of your majesty!" (Deut 33:29). Our Lord Jesus Christ having suffered for us, we must arm ourselves with the same mind "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin" (1 Pt 4:1).