Text: Matthew 10:1–39
Topic: What Jesus meant when he said he came not to bring peace, but a sword

• Illustration: The baby Jesus has been stolen several times from Daley Plaza in Chicago. Now there is a team dedicated to keeping Jesus safely in the manger.
• That's indicative about how some of us view Jesus. During this time of the year it's normal for us to think of him as the sweet baby Jesus in the manger.
• But have we bolted our perception of Jesus down to the manger?
• We tend to view Jesus as an adult the same way we view him as a baby—a mild, sweet-natured, gentle Savior.
• This Advent season we want to ask the question, What child is this? Do we really understand who it is that we worship and welcome at Christmas?

• Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Jesus came that when the Messiah came, he would be the Prince of Peace.
• That's an amazing title when you consider that at the time Isaiah was writing, the monarchs were seen as those who brought war and destruction.
• Then, on the night Jesus was born, angelic beings filled the sky and declared to the shepherds, "Glory to God in the highest, and to men peace on earth."
• Peace is one of the most dominant themes of the Advent season.
• We think that Jesus came to establish peace, to be an end to conflict and strife, to make our lives more comfortable, more safe and secure. But is that accurate?
• Certainly Scripture says he is the Prince of Peace and he has come to establish peace.
• But could the establishment of peace actually call for a period of unrest?
• In Matthew 10 Jesus says something uncomfortable.
• The chapter begins with Jesus selecting his 12 disciples, and then in verse 5 he sends them out on a mission to proclaim the kingdom of God throughout Israel.
• He tells them that as they do this, they are going to be persecuted.
• Then Jesus says this: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
• This doesn't fit with our view of Jesus in the manger, the sweet, innocent, meek, and mild baby.
• This doesn't fit with our cultural view of Jesus the man, who is equally as infantile and sweet and gentle.
• How do we reconcile that Jesus says he has come to bring a sword?
• First off, he's not speaking literally. Jesus is not literally wielding a sword.
• Most of us think of a sword as an instrument of violence.
• Throughout Christian history some have interpreted this verse to justify war against non-Christian cultures. Others have used it to justify Christians killing non-Christians in the name of God for self-defense or to protect the church in some way.
• That's a misinterpretation of what Jesus is saying here.
• Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus advocate violence. Nowhere is he pro-war.
• Jesus is not using the sword as an illustration of vengeance or violence or death.
• Remember, this is the Jesus who told us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us.
• He modeled that for us as he hung upon the cross when he prayed to forgive those who were in the process at that moment of murdering him.
• This symbol does not represent violence or war. So what does it mean?
• The key is in the word peace. Jesus says he has not come to bring peace.
• The word he uses here is the Hebrew word shalom.
• Shalom means peace. But the Hebrew word has a more nuanced meaning.
• It doesn't simply mean peace in the absence of violence. It's a peace that comes from wholeness, from being complete, unified.
• The opposite of wholeness or unity is division.
• Jesus is using the image of a sword to mean to divide, to cut, to sever in half.
• So what Jesus says is: "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." I did not come to bring wholeness and unity, but division.
• This imagery of a sword being an instrument of division is used by the author of Hebrews in describing the Word of God (Heb. 4:12).
• What Jesus is saying is that his mission is to turn the world upside down.
• We see him doing that even from the moment of his birth.
• When King Herod heard that the Messiah had been born, he was disturbed, because Jesus was a threat to his power. So Herod tried to have this child killed.
• Also, Simeon said to Mary and Joseph, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel."
• At Christmas we don't celebrate the birth of a passive Savior, a pushover Messiah, somebody who just came to make us feel better.
• Jesus came to bring a sword, to turn the world upside down, to dethrone every illegitimate king.
• The way he did this was by calling all people back into communion with God.
• He invited people everyone else thought were disqualified from being connected to God: the sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes and thieves and drunkards.
• He welcomed them back into communion with God, and he welcomes us back into communion with God.
• He overturned the world by showing God's radical, lavish love for all people and then invited us to love God just as much, with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.
• The reason why this is threatening is because to be back in proper relationship with God means taking something else in our lives out of that place.
• Every one of us has put something in the place in our lives that rightfully belongs to God alone.
• Just as Herod was threatened by the birth of this rival king, we should be threatened by the birth of Christ, because he has come to dethrone whatever is on the throne of our lives that he alone has authority over.

• After introducing this radical idea Jesus illustrates it in a few ways.
• First, he points to one thing that frequently occupies this ultimate and high place in our lives other than God: family.
  • Matthew 10:35–37
• What kind of person would be so bold as to tell another person, You have to love me more than your own children, more than your mother or your father?
• To be so bold you either have to be the Messiah, with the authority to demand that kind of allegiance, or you're a maniac.
• Jesus recognizes that in our estrangement from God, we'll exalt something that is good and wonderful like family and put it in a place reserved for God alone.
• Jesus is not saying it's wrong to love our children or parents. Family is not evil.
• The problem is when we exalt it to a place that belongs to God alone.
• Consider it this way. If God created us, if we are infinitely dependent upon him for our existence, and if our connection to God will exist for eternity, then does it not follow that our relationship to him should have supremacy above all other things?
• What Jesus is saying is: Do you recognize the supremacy of God over all things?
• The one who created your family deserves your allegiance more than they do.
  • Illustration: Jethani wrestled with this when his father had cancer.
• This is not a green light to go to your family and start fighting with them.
• Remember, Jesus is also the one who commands us to be at peace with all people as far as it depends on us.
• But we still need to take Jesus' words seriously.
• Jesus' ultimate concern is that we live in unity and harmony with him. Family comes somewhere under that.

• Jesus addresses a second thing we often put in the place that belongs to God alone, and that's ourselves.
  • Matthew 10:38–39
• Again, he's using a metaphor. This time it's a cross.
• A cross is a symbol of death, of execution.
• What he's saying here is that you must willingly sacrifice yourself, die to yourself, put aside your own desires, dreams, goals, and ambitions, and put Christ first.
• Self-denial is not a popular message.
  • Illustration: Thieves stole a Jesus figure from a Catholic church, but they left the cross he was attached to. That's indicative of our culture. We want Jesus; we don't want the cross.
• At the heart of Christianity is this paradox: he who finds his life, who has control over his life, will, in fact, lose his life.
• It's the person who gives up his life, who surrenders himself completely to God, who keeps none of his dreams or hopes or desires but lays them down before God, who will find real life and life abundant.
• You can't bargain with Jesus. You can't say, How about this much, and I'll keep that?
• Remember, he didn't come to bring peace; he came to bring a sword.
• Jesus' presence is a threat to every illegitimate king over our lives, including ourselves.

• Jesus demands our full allegiance.
  • Illustration: C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity: Christ wants all.
  • Illustration: Ancient hymn lyrics address this.
• During this season, don't look at the manger and think about the innocent, helpless, sweet baby, tender and mild, laying down his sweet head. Jesus is no such thing.
• He did not come to bring peace but a sword.
• He did not come to make us feel better about ourselves, but to demand our allegiance.