I did not come to bring peace but a sword

 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.'  He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.  And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.  And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."

- Matthew 10:34-42

In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His teaching to the Twelve Apostles before they were sent out on their first mission:  "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.  If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!  Therefore do not fear them.  For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.  Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.  And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?  And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."   (For the earlier readings in this teaching before they Apostles are sent out, see The kingdom of heaven is at hand and I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.)

 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword."    My study bible reminds us that just before His extremely violent death on the Cross, Christ promised peace to His disciples.  However, it says, the existence of evil necessitates spiritual warfare.  The world Christ came to was under the authority of Satan, "the ruler of this world" or "god of this age" (John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4).  Therefore Christ wages war against the leader of vice with weapons of virtue (Ephesians 6:11-18), and He calls all of His disciples to do so as well.  This is what the term "spiritual warfare" truly means.

"For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.'"  This is the prophecy of Micah 7:6, fulfilled by Christ.

"He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."   This struggle is a kind of battle that involves hearts and minds.  What is it we are devoted to?  My study bible reminds us that to carry his cross, a true disciple must be ready, if necessary to sacrifice even family relationships.  To lose one's life for Christ's sake is a kind of total repentance, a full "change of mind."  That usually requires external changes as well, giving up the things that keep us from fully living the life He calls us to.

"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.  And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.  And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."  Here again is the bold statement about the center of discipleship, Christ Himself.  Everything depends on our response to the holiness He is a part of, which He brings to the world.  That is extended through all those who are truly His disciples.  This is the presence and working of the kingdom in our midst.

Learning to grow in discipleship requires hard choices we might not expect.  This is not necessarily an everyday experience of extreme difficulty.  But there are times when we come to a crossroads and have to remind ourselves that "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."  That's when we may have to let go of a friendship or even closer relationship in order to more deeply commit to discipleship, to where Christ calls us to go.  Sometimes we may find we need to give up something we love of a different nature, and it still is part of letting go of the life you have for another one.  This sort of "spiritual battle" isn't about a kind of destructive, explosive battle, but more akin to a kind of forgiveness, a "giving up," or "letting go."  It's not easy, and it can involve upheaval.  But ultimately, it's important to focus on the commitment to something that calls us within our hearts to a place of love and union -- and it's not about what or who we let go of.  Christ's guiding light must be the true and important focus, because this is a battle for love.  It's a hard saying, and it's not easy, but the focus has to be on the peace -- that particular kind of peace -- that Christ offers us.  That is union with Him, a communion of holiness, with what is essentially good and true and beautiful.  This plays out in our own lives struggle by struggle, moment by moment, with every new choice.  That is where Christ's sword of His truth comes in for us.  We can love people and still let them go.  There's a calling that's worth everything else, that embraces even those whom we let go with love.

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- less, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish'?  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciples. 

"Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

- Luke 14:25-35

Yesterday, we continued with a reading set at a dinner at the home of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to which Jesus was invited.   He said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you will be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."  Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'   So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

 Now great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  My study bible says that "the command to hate one's kindred and his own life also is not to be taken literally.   Rather we are to hate the way our relationships with others can hinder our total dedication to the Kingdom of God, which takes precedence even over family ties."  In chapter 9, Jesus taught, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."   Each person's cross, says my study bible, may be unique and different for each person, a burden with which there are particular struggles for salvation, enlightenment by Christ.  It's a daily struggle, and it is one that affects all around us, for whatever we do also affects community one way or another.  This unique and independent struggle is also a struggle waged for salvation for everyone around us.  And there are those who will reject it.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- less, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish'?  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciples."  Jesus emphasizes the depth of the call He is laying out, the rigors of the journey.  St. Paul also writes with an analogy of building, in 1 Corinthians 3:10:  "According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it.  But let each one take heed how he builds on it."

"Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  To have salt in ourselves is a command given by Christ in Mark 9:50.  It indicates a certain kind of flavor, and more.  To eat salt together with someone meant to be bound together in loyalty; salt as preservative was necessary for human life.  My study bible says, "As the salt of the earth [Matthew 5:13], Christians are preservers of God's covenant and give true flavor to the world."  Jesus gives us a vivid illustration of the qualities of salt He applies to discipleship in the earlier verses in today's passage:  perseverance, commitment, endurance, sacrificing whatever it takes to get through the mission.

In the United States, today is Veterans Day, a day when soldiers who have served the country -- both living and dead -- are remembered.  Jesus speaks here of a long campaign, one in which a follower must bear a certain salt in them, seasoned with a kind of loyalty that is willing to work through all obstacles and sacrifice for the sake of covenant and loyalty.  We note there are multitudes who are following Him:  Jesus' mission isn't to be the most "popular guy" in the nation or the world, and it's not just to get great groups of people to follow Him around.  His mission requires a kind of toughness that will indicate endurance and persistence, a depth of commitment that is likened to the foundation to build a strong tower, and in Jesus' own words, a strong show of forces such as one needs before proceeding in battle.  This is the strength, endurance, commitment, and seasoning He calls us to; the kinds of  strengths needed for the particular mission He has in mind.  Endurance, alertness, and strength of heart will be qualities He will emphasize that are necessary for His followers when He is gone, after His own sacrifice for all the world.  Jesus initiates a kind of war with His mission in the world, but it is a battle we wage within ourselves.  The salt in ourselves is just that commitment, that flavor of the willingness to keep fighting the good fight, as St. Paul puts it.   This is a war waged for our peace, the true peace given from above, peace that passes worldly understanding.  It is a true battle for our freedom, the freedom which Christ declares as the truth that sets us free.  He's not sugar-coating the difficulties, nor the necessities for the mission -- especially when He begins with the depth of sacrifice that may be required in declaring that even our family relations, and even our own lives, are things that come second to the mission for Him.  We know what Cross He will bear, and so do each of us have our own cross to bear in our own ways.  So let us consider the battle we sign up for, and what is required.  Jesus lays it all out, and calls us only to be fully prepared and committed.   Can we understand it?  As the world honors the heroic sacrifices of those who battle to save, let us also understand how each who would be a disciple is called to the type of battle Christ has in mind -- for a freedom and salvation far beyond worldly events, and yet so much a part of each moment of our lives and the depths of our hearts and communities, no matter what we do or where we are.