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Hard saying of Jesus- I have not come to bring peace but a sword 

In this series we will look at some of the hard sayings of Jesus. While Jesus is known for his compassionate sayings such as, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), he has a surprising number of hard things to say. A quick count reveals fifty of them. These range from the seemingly insensitive, “leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:22) to the seemingly aggressive “the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12-13). 

Today we will consider this hard saying from Jesus, the Prince of Peace: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).

While at first it would seem to contradict his mission of peace, it makes sense in the broader context of his ministry. As he enters the world to call people to himself as his disciples, some will choose to follow him, but others—most—will refuse him. Jesus explains that most will choose the wide gate of rejecting him, not the narrow gate of following him. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many” (Matthew 7:13). 

The people that choose to not follow Jesus do not remain neutral toward him and his followers. They end up despising him and his people. 

This is a normal human response. When we choose to root for Florida, we root against Georgia. Jesus said that those who reject him hate him, and hate his followers, too. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). This animosity may look like ignoring or diminishing but ranges up to mocking and hurting.

Therefore, when Jesus says he brings a sword into the world he does not mean for his disciples today to take up the sword against their families and neighbors. Quite the opposite. He means that the neighbors and families of Christians will hate them and take up the sword—in various degrees of severity—to reject, mock, exclude, hurt, and even kill those who follow Christ. 

Jesus continues in the Matthew 10 passage to explain the impact of this dynamic in families. “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” (Matthew 10:35-36). He means that the man who refuses Christ will set himself against his father who follows Christ. 

As the first one to follow Christ in my family of eleven I experienced this deeply. Some of my siblings mocked my faith, slandered me, and excluded me. My father became angry with my new faith and yelled, “I forbid you to speak the name of Jesus in this house again!” As more came to faith in our family a younger brother revealed to me: “When you Christians are not around, the rest of us talk about how bad you all are.” 

Happily, my father and that younger brother would eventually become disciples of Christ. But there remains a division in my family to this day. My family—and millions like it—are proof of the prophetic nature of Jesus’ words. 

When Christ spoke in Matthew 10:34-37, he was not making a threat, nor was he inciting his disciples to violence. No, as a loving King he warns his people of what is coming. He was right. In the history of the world untold millions of Christians have been hated, reviled, persecuted, and killed as they are even today worldwide.

Christ, the Prince of Peace, does bring a sword, in the sense that those who reject him will seek to harm his people. Christians do well to live with this in mind, ready for opposition. Ready, as Jesus has told us, to love our enemies and bless those who curse us.