“…I came not to bring peace, but a sword…Your enemies will be right in your own household!” Matthew 10:34, 36 NLT
Wow! This is really shocking coming from the mouth of the Prince of peace! I heard someone saying that ignorance kills and I believe it. Isaiah 40:8, declares that the Word of our God stands forever and it has been proven. The Word of God is a treasure and is hidden safely so that only those who dig diligently find it.
The New Testament was written in the Greek language, which is totally different than ours. Example, Greek has six different words to express love and we just have one, so this explains some of our difficulties in understanding. I imagine the ancient Greek would have been appalled by our unrefined in using a single word both to love a person and to love a meal. So with this said, I propose to explain what’s going on in this passage.
The Lord is preparing His disciples, equipping them with His prophetic Word for them to be strong enough to withstand what was ahead of them. Genesis 12 tells the story of Abram’s call to leave all he knew to come to an unknown place. God was interested in preparing a place of salvation for humanity. The man had become depraved and was in complete enmity with God. Through the seed of Abraham, God will send his Son to give his life as a ransom for humanity that has been in Satan’s possession. And Galatians 4:4, tells us:
“But when the fullness of time came, God send forth His Son, born from a woman, born under the law,”
The Lord is training His disciples that will stay without His physical leadership, after He is taken back to heaven. He is given them all the details of things to come and they must be strong not to deny God. He places a strong emphasis on His teaching so that they keep it in their spirit. The disciples are as sheep among wolves and He wanted them to be secured and strong. Israel was desperate for a King to deliver them from Rome. They expected a King to come to fight for them. The Lord came to fight, He said it clear:
“I came not to bring peace, but a sword…”
He came to defeat the enemy, the real enemy, Satan. Light and darkness entered mortal combat.
” In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5).
The Lord came to undo the works of the devil and that revolutionized the kingdom of darkness by urging strife within the same family. This is an eternal business affair. This is like when a parent is facing with the tragic situation of his child destroying his life with drugs. Would that father be okay with the drugs for tranquility’ sake. What about if you see your son or your father sexually abusing a child, wouldn’t that turn you against him? When the sin in us is confronted with the Light of Christ, is immediately revolted.
Thus the Lord is summarizing His teaching with this, “For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,…” (Matthew 10:35).
Jesus is not commanding people to kill people, He is talking about sin. Sin separates us from God and from other people. Sin sends people to hell which is eternal separation from God. Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life for us. He died our own death, so that we can live His life today.
NO! Jesus is not anti-family! Jesus is pro-family! He loves family! Through His blood He made us all family. Because of His death, we have been adopted by God.
“For you have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. But you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans8:15).
Proverbs 8:31, says that wisdom who is Jesus , “…My delights were with the sons of men.”
The Lord finished His discourse, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39).
This is what the Lord taught us in Luke 10:27, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”
No the Lord Jesus is NOT Anti-family!