Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Jesus, in Matthew 10:34.

Yesterday, we spent time looking at some of my favorite passages about the peace that God brings. Modern search engines make it easy to discover all the places the Bible talks about peace in a matter of miliseconds.

Those search engines also expose how easy it is for us to pick and choose the verses we like and ignore the ones we don’t. I love John 14:27. There Jesus assures us, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

I don’t have the same feelings for Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:34. There Jesus warns, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Not only are these words not very assuring, they seems to stand in great contrast to everything else Jesus said. How can the Prince of Peace talk about bringing a sword? Swords cut. Swords divide. When Peter took out a sword and struck at the Roman guard, Christ chastised him (John 18:11). How can a sword be a tool of the one whose very life will bring about the reconciliation of the world to God?

Perhaps Jesus’ sword is metaphoric. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the word of God is like a sword, one that divides soul and spirit and judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Jesus, the perfect Word of God, has come to bring us peace, but not the false peace of false assurances. He does not come to overlook our sins, but to save us from them.

In that light, Christ’s sword is more like the surgeon’s knife. It cuts us loose from the sins that so easily entangle. It strikes down the idols that entrap us. His cut feels like a death blow striking at the very heart of what we believe is most important in our lives, but it is a cut that leads us to a resurrected life. Only in dieing to self do we discover life in him.

Prince of Peace, put to death in us anything that steals our attention and our allegiance away from you. Remind us that we have been crucified with you, and that the life we now live is one made possible by you, the one who gave yourself for us.

---