Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-october-16-2025
Matthew 10:34-39
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
I feel pretty safe in saying that most of those who read these Reflections have never really faced persecution. I mean real persecution. Lots of Americans who call themselves Christians think they’re persecuted if the clerk at the store says, “Season’s Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas.” But it would be interesting to hear how this passage is perceived by people who have actually faced persecution for their faith. I have a feeling that those people might get some comfort from knowing that what they’re going through had all been foretold. Those people would read this story and know that Jesus had said that those who faced suffering for his name would be judged worthy of his love.
It seems to me that the point Jesus is making in this reading is that his message and the movement that grew out of it would be so threatening to some people that his followers might find even their closest relationships disrupted. And the historians tell us that lots of the people who heard Jesus speak these words would experience persecution personally. According to church history, many of the first generation of disciples would be martyred for their faith.
You might remember from past Reflections that New Testament scholars say that Matthew compiled his gospel specifically for readers who had been raised as Jews. And in many cases, it was those Jewish believers who were most likely to face persecution. The scholars and historians say that by the time Matthew’s gospel was published, nearly every Christian in Israel and Judea would either have experienced persecution personally, or would have family and friends who had.
The historians also say that in the first generation of believers, most of those who were persecuted weren’t fed to lions in the kind of big spectacles we’ve seen in the movies. Instead, it was more likely that believers were thrown out of synagogues, or fired from their jobs, or ostracized from their families and friends. Merchants and craftsmen might lose all their customers because the community turned its back on them. So even those who weren’t ‘martyred,’ as we usually think of the term, could still find their lives turned upside down because of their faith.
And as Jesus warns here, it was often relatives and friends who would turn against them, and even ‘turn them in’ to the religious authorities as heretics and blasphemers.
Actually, if you think about how things work even today in Muslim countries when people convert to the Christian faith, that’s probably not far from what would happen to most Jews who became followers of Jesus in that first generation of believers.
So some of the first readers of the Gospel of Matthew might have found it comforting to read that Jesus had predicted exactly the things they were going through.
But what about us? What does this passage have to say to followers of Jesus in the 21st century?
For one thing, it says that Jesus expects our relationship with God in him to become our most important allegiance. Obviously, that isn’t something that you can just switch at a moment’s notice. You can’t just say, ‘OK, from now on I’m going to love Jesus even more than my family and loved ones.’ Human affections don’t work that way.
But if you’re really serious about following Jesus, living in imitation of him and obeying his teachings, over time that commitment will come to transform your other relationships. Even with those you love the most. You’ll come to see your relationships with your spouse, your kids, your parents and your friends through the lens of Jesus. Eventually you’ll see your kids, not just as reflections of your own ego, but rather as potential disciples of Jesus you’ve been charged with nurturing and training. Eventually you’ll see your spouse as a person you’re charged to honor and to build up for a role in bringing about God’s kingdom. You’ll love others differently because of your love for Jesus.
Nowadays when I read this passage, another troubling thought creeps into my head. I hear some of the angry rhetoric that comes from some of my fellow Christians, and it seems to me that some of them feel this passage authorizes them to take up the sword against those who offend them. Against people of different faiths, or of no faith. Or even against other Christians who disagree with them on hot button issues. But I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t bring a sword so he could hand it to his followers to smite those they consider “enemies of the faith.” The way of the Prince of Peace can never be faithfully enforced with the sword.
Our challenge every single day is to open our hearts to that slow, steady transformation Jesus causes in us through the Holy Spirit. That’s when we become true followers on that way of peace — the peace of God that passes all understanding. And that’s a peace that can help us face even the most difficult circumstances in the life of faith.
Let’s pray. Lord, by the power of your Holy Spirit, build us up in faith so that we can stand strong even when the forces of the world stand against us. Empower us to serve as witnesses to your love for the others in our lives, and use us to call them closer to yourself. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
Recent Comments