Matthew 10:34-39 (ESV)
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For 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. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 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. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
On the face of it, this statement by Jesus seems to contradict the very nature of who He is and what He said elsewhere. Isaiah had already prophesied regarding Him and called Him the ‘Prince of Peace’. He spoke to His disciples towards the end of His life and told them, “My peace I leave with you…” With these in mind, and the context in which He said the words in today’s passage, we can clearly tell that there is more to what Jesus is saying than appears on the surface. Obviously, we can tell that Jesus is not advocating for war and unnecessary strife in His name. Rather, Jesus is challenging our pursuit for ‘peace at all cost’ yet the peace we pursue is not real peace, but rather a superficial, synthetic kind of a peace.
What Jesus is really saying here, as revealed in the ensuing statements, is that following Him has a cost. That there is a chance that our most fundamental relationships will be affected by virtue of being followers of Christ. And we must be ready to lose it for His sake. In other words, ‘our peace’ suffers the danger of being shaken should we opt to be Jesus’ disciples and we must choose Him above our peace, above every other person – father, mother, spouse, children. He ends this portion of Scripture by reminding us that the path to gain is loss, the path to life is death. Therefore, we must, through God’s grace, be ready to stand up for Jesus, no matter the cost.
Reflections
1. What has been your highlight as pertains to this week’s devotions?
2. In what other ways do you find this saying by Jesus difficult?
3. In view of today’s devotion, would you say that you really follow Jesus? If not, what should change?
