not peace but a sword

Good morning friends,
This is a hard reading. Jesus tells the disciples he comes to bring a sword to the world and to divide people from their relatives. Of course that is what many early Christians experienced. They came to faith in Jesus and their families disowned them. I usually feel a long way away from the level of commitment Jesus lifts up here. It is hard to put Jesus first in everything, but Jesus tells us that is when we will really live. The stories in the Book of Acts back that up too. The disciples faced hardship and oppression, but often seem full of joy and lived in rich community. The book we're reading in our session meetings, Irresistible Revolution, which is also about life in Christian community gives the same impression. Maybe Jesus really is calling us to let go of the strength with which we hold on to our other commitments and cling first to him. Jesus can set us free.

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 10:34-42

34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For 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; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37Whoever 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; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.



40“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”