conflict for all in every place

When Christians pray (and many non-Christians, actually), they generally ask for peace on earth – peace here and now, peace in our daily dealings. Surely Jesus would never say to his disciples – his apprentices – “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Do you have a few minutes to think about this?

Three times, above, Jesus refers to his having come to this world: first, not to bring peace; second, not to bring peace but a sword; third, to set one person against another. He adds that, in all this, conflicts will be in each person’s own household. 

 

 

But he did say that. Do you think that he wanted his disciples to know that he himself did not come to make life any easier for them? To make life any easier for anybody? I think that may well be the case. Why? Maybe (what do you think?) he wanted people to know that human beings who are focused on getting and keeping are going to make life difficult for one another – forever…. Unless….

And he hadn’t come to bring peace to that world system. He wanted folk to turn to him and to receive from him his kind of eternal life, conflict-free eternal life. 

But what about his added words “but a sword”? Having been an apprentice of Jesus for a long time, it seems to me that Jesus recognized that, just as he was hated by some on earth – hated to the death, in fact – his disciples would also be hated. I think he was informing them that, in that way, he was bringing a sword into their lives on earth. The sword would be wielded by others intent on winning in this life.

What then does Jesus want of human beings? “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. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Please don’t mis-interpret this or even mis-understand it. In these sayings he was asking his disciples to love him above all else.

Why would they do that? I think it’s because, in his not-of-this-world kingdom he is a unique human being because, instead of exploiting others and trying in every way to beat others and to be above others, he decided to die for others. Not only did he die for others who were awful-in-his-eyes in their determined self-seeking but also he died for those who, as part of that, put him to death. How much do you love him?

What followed that was this, “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Not worthy of him? Why? Not worthy because not prepared to go under in this world, as he did? Not worthy, therefore, because remaining self-seeking - and, because of that focus, continuing to add to this world’s global and family and home conflicts.

Finally, what about – “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  When I looked this up in the original Greek, I found that it could, perhaps better, be translated “Whoever discovers his life will destroy it, and whoever destroys his life for my sake will discover it.” 

Then it all makes sense. I can stay in this world’s endless conflict so as to gain a good life for myself on earth. Or I can discover new life in the love of Jesus and go his way. I can discover true life for ever and ever.