Matthew 10:32-39 Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
In the above focus, Jesus is not talking about bringing peace to the world, absolute harmony with people regardless of their beliefs, but He is talking about bringing a sword, the word of God, a separator in the midst of others. This word will divide people, for it discerns the very nature of a man’s soul. For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13) The words of Jesus are offensive to an evil, wayward world. Man’s basic desire is to exist without many controls on his behavior. Why? Because he knows he is going around only once, so he wants to experience everything he can on life’s journey. He alone will determine what is good and best for himself, even if it is exploitive or unhealthy for others. The laws and regulations of a society are usually created and enforced to keep man’s proclivity for doing only what he desires under control. For most people, freedom to live as they want remains the fundamental foundation of living. For them, to serve a living God who demands subservience to his will, to his holiness, is a sword in their midst. God’s demands to build their lives on his nature rather than their nature of doing their own thing is abhorrent to secular humans. Jesus sums up his sermon on the Mount by saying, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. (Matthew 7:24-27) A life lived under God’s authority will not lead to disaster, but a life lived waywardly will face not only damage here on Earth, but damnation in the eternal world to come. God will not look favorably on lives that are not under his governance. This sword of accusation against sin and unbelief, lack of allegiance to God, will separate people even in their own households. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” The word of God separates people who have had even the most intimate relationships here on Earth. The close knit Jewish priesthood typifies people who desire to focus more on their lives rather than God. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were emblematic of this serve-serving attitude in living. They hated Jesus because he pointed out their carnal lifestyle and their willingness to use the priesthood for their own benefit: to get ahead in life. The people gave great deference to the priests’ supposedly holy lifestyle. However, Jesus knew the priests’ hearts and accused them of separating the people from God, not entering in to serving God wholeheartedly and richly, but instead, standing in the way of the people finding God. They were the first to know the sword Jesus was bringing; He was separating the priesthood from the people. They hated him for that and desired to kill him.
Jesus spoke with authority as if He had an ongoing relationship with God the Father and a sense that God would back up everything He taught. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. (Mark 1:22) This caused great consternation for the Pharisees and Sadducees, for they knew God mostly by following his law and regulations and not as a personal God. Now, they are confronted by a man who claims He is from God and knows God intimately. Consequently, they ask Jesus to prove himself that He was from God by doing a miracle. They were hoping that this would reveal Jesus as a fraud. They wanted to separate Jesus from the people who were following him. But Jesus avoided this challenge by telling them what would prove He is the Son of God would be the sign of Noah. Of course, his death and resurrection would be a fulfillment of that sign, but it would be too late for the priests to prove that Jesus was a fraud and that people should not follow him. Interestingly, the story of Noah is considered by many people today as too far-fetched, too impossible, too unprovable to be believed. Of course, Jesus’ death and resurrection fall into that same area of unbelief. Other themes and incidences in the Bible fall into this same category of too far-fetched to believe: the walls of Jericho collapsing, the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery; the dividing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River; the manna by morning and the quail by evening; the virgin birth, the Damascus conversion of Paul, and many others stories in the Bible. The Christian message and beliefs rely upon stories that cannot be imagined or conceived by the secular world. If our God is small, powerless, then the stories prima-facie are untrue. But, if our God is the galaxy-maker and the creator of all that is known, all of these stories in the Bible are possible. Of course that belief separates: a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. The problem with the Pharisees and the Sadducees is they lacked faith in the supernatural aspect of serving God. They could believe in their religion for the sake of their ancestors but not for themselves. They had allowed rules and regulations to replace intimacy with God. They needed a sign from Jesus to prove that He had been with God and that he was God’s messenger to the world. Jesus would not give them that, for He knew with their hard hearts they lacked faith to receive any sign from him. When Jesus healed a man’s withered hand in the temple, he had looked round about on them (the religious leaders) with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. (Mark 3:5) Knowing this, Jesus’ mission was to separate the teachers of the law and their beliefs from the people.
Jesus warned the disciples about the priests’ contaminating unbelief by saying, Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadduccees. The priests had ignored the supernatural aspect of serving the Lord! Jesus reminds the disciples of the miracles of feeding the crowds of 4000 and 5000. He reminded the disciples that even after the people were fed, they had leftovers, revealing the abundance of the Lord. To show the disciples the necessity of knowing God in an unbelieving world, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. (Matthew 16:13-17) Their answers about what the people believed all referred to men who had already died: John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. The minds of people were blinded to a reality beyond what might be possible: having former great men’s spirits inhabiting Jesus. They knew about stories of mediums supposedly contacting the spirit’s of men, bringing them into reality. But that is as far as their imaginations could go. But Jesus now asked the disciples directly, “Who do you say I am?” Peter exclaims, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus tells him, only the Father could have revealed this to you. In a dark and unbelieving world, only the Spirit of God can open the hearts of men to the reality of the Savior God. Jesus came to save the world from sin, to make new creatures through his saving grace. Only He could make people new, for all things from the beginning of time were created THROUGH HIM. Breakfast companions, we have been separated from the world through the sword of God. We are aliens here, strangers in a foreign land; this world is not our home. Consequently, our allegiance to God’s work in us is great. As Paul wrote, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) Therefore, as today’s verses say, we cannot love anyone more than God, and we must take up the cross and follow Jesus. As Jesus goes on to say, Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. We are committed to following him and to losing our lives for him and to glorifying his supernatural strength in us and though us. Blessed be his holy name!
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