“Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”- Matthew 10:34 This line is one of the more controversial passages in the Gospels, and you can see why. There are some people who advocate that Jesus was not the peace-loving guy we think he was, but rather that he was intending to lead a revolt against the Romans and the transgressions of the priesthood in the temple. Jesus does indeed condemn the priests, overturns tables in the temple, and walks into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in such a symbolic way that no one there would have misunderstood that Jesus intended to be king. Finally, the fact that he was crucified, a punishment Romans gave for sedition, treason, and banditry, proves to some that Jesus wasn’t the sweet guy we think he was. Or. Some of Jesus’ teachings are not prescriptive, but descriptive. They describe how things are rather than name how things should be. Jesus was well aware that he may be pigeonholed as the other would-be messiah’s of his day who were violent. Jesus probably understood that the powers-that-be would miss the subtlety of his teachings. If he preached the Kingdom of God coming near and healed the sick and uplifted the poor, he would be seen as a revolutionary. Furthermore, many of us have a lot invested in social structures, economic structures and political structures being what they are. When someone threatens these, even if it is through healing and reconciliation, this can cause people to react violently. Out of fear. If we believe Jesus allowed violence, or sanctioned it, we go on a slippery slope of justifying all manner of rage, hatred, and brutality- as long as it is in the name of Jesus. The Crusades were a great example. The means justified the ends. Except the ends were horrible after all. But if we believe that Jesus was simply speaking the truth, maybe even with a sad tone, we can imagine how this might have affected the disciples who were about to go out on their own for the first time. Jesus reminds the disciples to go without fear and preach wherever they are accepted. He tells them right off the bat that they won’t get better treatment than he gets at places. Being rejected isn’t a mark that we are good Christians. We can be total arrogant idiots with whom others disagree but because we are persecuted we feel righteous. Being rejected can come, however, when you exemplify and preach a life that is about love, healing, and restoration. That ends up challenging ideas and beliefs and structures. And not everyone is cool with that. Our peaceful ideas may bring problems first. That is reality.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 19:49:17 +0000
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