Peace or a sword?
Well, what a difficult passage this is. Who’d think Jesus would
teach that he has come to divide and bring a sword, to be the source of family
ructions and division, to upset apple carts and set cats among pigeons? Just
five chapters earlier, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching that
peacemakers are the blessed ones. And at his birth, angels announced to
shepherds, peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind.
So what are we to make of Jesus’ words in this passage, Do not
expect to think that I have come to put in place peace on earth; I have not
come to bring peace, but a sword. The enemies of a man (or woman) are within
his (her) own household. This seems contradictory to all we commonly hear
about our Christian faith, and certainly there are pulpits that will ignore it
because it doesn’t fit with their prosperity feel-good gospel positions. This
passage, and others like it, will be relegated to the too-hard basket. But we can’t ignore it. Matthew has included the passage (and so
has Luke) in his gospel for a very good reason. So we need to ask ourselves,
what we are going to do with it? How are we to understand this? It’s all about
choices and allegiances, commitment and conduct of life.
When the Lord calls a person into a life of discipleship, that
person is called by name. You are called by name, you are his, you belong to
Christ. And that means you will inevitably face a choice of allegiance,
commitment and conduct of life. Christ in your life must be number one, no
matter what. And anything that gets in the way presents a barrier to that and
must be set aside, even if it means so far as to leave family and country
behind, for example.
In Middle Eastern culture, then and now, family ties and honour
are very much “blood thicker than water”. To go against the family would often
mean disaster, as it does today when a Muslim leaves Islam for Christianity. I remember
a now retired priest in this diocese, who left Islam for Christ. He said on the
day Christ showed him the door into his life, his father showed him the door
out of the family. Never spoke with his father again. So when Jesus gave the illustration that allegiance to him could
cost as much as one’s own family, he knew the audience into which he spoke, and
they understood what he meant. It’s radical and it’s divisive. But that’s what
the cost of your call to discipleship might well be.
Most of us here in Australia will have families who, while they
may not be accommodating of a Christian in their midst, won’t go to the extent
of putting that Christian out of the household. But I have seen women coming to
church for a while, their husbands have disapproved, and the women have left. What
do you do with that? On the one hand you want to explore a relationship with
Jesus and his offer to you of eternal life, but on the other hand your husband
disapproves and you have to live with him. Hopefully such husbands learn to
love their wives enough that they will no longer feel threatened by having a
Christian wife in the marriage. Two of those ladies came to this parish. So if you think conflict
of interest between a professed allegiance to one’s following of Christ and
family ties is for another time and another place, it isn’t.
Now this idea of barriers extends not just to family relationships
– if it comes to that, but to all spheres of one’s life. It may be that you
have a strong attachment to your career, for example. You work hard, climb the
promotional ladder, getting ahead, and it’s what you live for. And while
there’s nothing wrong with a career and the promotional ladder per se, the
danger is that it could take over as your number one allegiance, and you end up
relegating church and relationship with God to number two. Busyness can be another barrier. I’ve got so much to do, interests
here and there, people to meet, tasks to keep up with. No time for church, far
too busy. Busyness becomes number one and Jesus recedes into the background.
And so rings true the scriptures, The one who finds his life
will lose it, and the one who loses his life for my sake will find it. You
cannot serve two masters. Anyone who denies me before others in this life, I
will deny him before my Father in heaven. But on the other hand, Jesus also
said, anyone who acknowledges me before others in this life, I also will
acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.
Once again, we are taught that Kingdom of Heaven values are often
the reverse of Kingdom of Earth values. If you value your life by this world,
all you’ll get is this world’s transitory and temporal pleasures. But if you
value your allegiance to Christ and his Kingdom of Heaven first, you will
discover that the Kingdom of Heaven puts you first, along with the blessings
and fruitfulness that comes with it. First principle of seek first the Kingdom
of Heaven, then the things you need shall be given to you, is indeed true.
Now, I want us all to be encouraged at this point. If the call of
discipleship and its commitment to Christ as number one is paramount, and is
honoured in a God-fearing way, that in turn will be honoured in heaven.
Remember, nothing passes God’s watchful eye over us unless it is for our own
good and our place in eternity. And if he points something out to you that is
proving to be an obstacle, or a barrier, to your relationship with him, I’d be
giving that some very serious thought and prayer. It’ll be your choice what to
about it. God never forces anything on us, although he might push some of our
buttons to encourage us to respond one way or another.
So how can we be helped in this? If prayer seems to be dry, if
God’s voice is silent, if there is something in your life for which you lack
that settled peace of God which surpasses all understanding, one of two things
may be happening. Either, God wants you to experience that position for some
unfathomable reason (it’s known as a desert experience), and that is a
legitimate position to be in. The psalms of lament are replete with the cry,
How long O Lord, why don’t you answer me. And I have no doubt that God will
honour a desert experience and your prayers of lament, if that’s where he has
you for time being. Or, it may be that there is indeed a barrier of some sort
in your life, which needs to be addressed so that God is number one, and that
barrier has to learn it needs to be number two.
Friends, we are followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we do not have to be afraid of anything about our Christian
lives and our call to be followers in that. Many times in the gospel stories
Jesus re-assured those who encountered him to not be afraid. If you sense there
is indeed some allegiance in your life that is claiming number one, do
something about it. Don’t be afraid of letting it go.
As baptised Christians, we all have
the gift of the Holy Spirit. So the first step would be to take your situation
to him in prayer. After that, talk it over with a trusted spiritual director.
You will be shown what you must do and the things you must set aside as being of
lesser importance than your relationship with Jesus and his claim on you. For
as it is written, The Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan
and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you.
There may well be divisions and
opposition to your call which arise from quarters where you least expect them
come from, even to deeply held number one allegiances. Hence Jesus’
illustrative point about enemies being found within one’s own household. And we
need to be on the watch for that.
All of us in the parish, at both
worship centres, need to consider our positions and to call on the Lord to
examine our lives and where we are at with him right now. Is Christ really
number one in our personal and corporate lives? And if not, what should be done
about that?
I’ll leave you with this quote from psalm 63, which aptly
expresses why God is number one in the life of faith:
O God, you
are my God;
eagerly will I seek you.
My soul
thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you;
as
a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
So it was
when I beheld you in the sanctuary;
and
saw your power and your glory.
For your
unchanging goodness is better than life;
therefore
my lips shall praise you.
And so I
will bless you as long as I live;
and
in your name will I lift my hands on high.
Philip Starks
Published under Creative Commons Copyright Licence
Published under Creative Commons Copyright Licence
