Matthew 10:34-30, Not Peace, but a Sword

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Comments

Have you ever wished that someone would not be overly honest? Perhaps Jesus’ disciples felt that way. Yet Jesus simply restated what Micah had written some seven hundred years earlier about division among people and in families over the coming of the Messiah. With the bringing of peace, conflict is inevitable because Jesus demands our highest loyalty and expects us to die to ourselves and then live for him.

Prayer

Holy Savior, pour into my heart your selfless, sacrificial love, that it might annihilate the selfhood in me that keeps me from serving your fully.