Jesus brought division

September 17th, 2024
by Paul Granger

There's a quote from Jesus that seems exceptionally un-Christlike.

Last night my friend Johnathan Drayton invited me to join a spontaneous recording of "The Truth of the Matter Is Podcast" to explore Matthew 10:35-36, which is a particularly confusing statement from Jesus:

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—
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

Jesus is supposed to be the "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6), but is instead saying, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (v34) He is supposed to exemplify "honor your father and mother" (Exodus 20:12), but is instead making seemingly anti-family claims. How can the Christ be so un-Christlike?

"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." (Luke 12:51)

Jesus was not being un-Christlike; instead, he was fully aware that his very existence would cause tension and opposition.

Who he is and the Truth he speaks threatened the natural understanding and pursuits of man. We see these pursuits bluntly described in the passage that Jesus was referencing in Matthew 10:35-36:

What misery is mine!
I am like one who gathers summer fruit
at the gleaning of the vineyard;
there is no cluster of grapes to eat,
none of the early figs that I crave.
The faithful have been swept from the land;
not one upright person remains.
Everyone lies in wait to shed blood;
they hunt each other with nets.
Both hands are skilled in doing evil;
the ruler demands gifts,
the judge accepts bribes,
the powerful dictate what they desire—
they all conspire together.
The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day God visits you has come,
the day your watchmen sound the alarm.
Now is the time of your confusion.
Do not trust a neighbor;
put no confidence in a friend.
Even with the woman who lies in your embrace
guard the words of your lips.
For a son dishonors his father,
a daughter rises up against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.
Micah 7

Micah realizes that God is bringing Truth, and the people are too caught up in themselves to hear it; every one of them has placed faith in humanity over God. Jesus sees it too; with his coming "the day God visits you [had] come", and yet his disciples argued with each other, some betrayed and denied, and the people shouting "Hosanna" would eventually shout "crucify." Jesus knows full well that human understanding and pursuits are not just limited and misaligned, but vastly incapable of accepting true reality, because to do so would cost everything.

It could cost their perception. It could cost their comfort. It could cost their reputation. It could cost their safety. It could cost their very life.

Jesus said as much in Matthew 10:37-39:

“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. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."

Jesus was clear that following him required everything (the seed of which was planted in Deuteronomy 6:5 -- "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength"), and he also knew they would struggle to live it out. Peter is a great example of this: he was genuinely and deeply committed to Jesus, but when his life was threatened in an inglorious way, he denied Jesus three times in fear. This, by the way, was after Jesus repeatedly gave him a heads up:

"Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues." (Matthew 10:17)
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” (Matthew 26:34)

Sit with this: Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ, he knew the sacrifice that was expected of him, and he even knew that he would deny... and still did it. How could someone have access to such truth and still misstep?

Because Peter was still human.

Those fathers, mothers, daughter-in-laws, and households were still human. When mere humans come in contact with the supernatural, there is tension. When the finite comes in contact with the infinite, there is resistance. When the broken comes in contact with perfection, there is opposition.

When people encountered Jesus, there was not peace, because his presence revealed an end to mere humanity, the finite, the brokenness.

And yet there was peace, just not a peace of this world. It was not the peace they longed for -- "When the Messiah comes, life will be better!" -- but a peace that was bigger than the here-and-now, a lifetime, or even generations. It was not a peace to address "light and momentary troubles", but a glimpse of and preparation for eternal communion with God:

The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:16-19)

Jesus did not want his disciples to settle for a mere human life that would never satisfy and eventually whither; "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10) However, in order to this, old ways must die, which will lead to discomfort, tension, and opposition, both internally and externally. To embrace the Prince of Peace, we must release all else, as "anyone who loves ____ more than me is not worthy of me." Most importantly, we must own that this is not possible through our own desires or capacity, but only through the Spirit:

"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6)
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)

The path to true Peace will not look like peace at all, and yet it is the only path there.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:17-24