We continue, from part 1, considering arguments which a personage whom we will call the counter-arguer made in attempts to prove that Jesus was violent.
He is attempting to prove that Jesus was violent and so offers some references:
Well, JC said he did not come to bring peace – Matt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Now whether this be a spiritual sword or physical sword, we can be sure it is not a peaceful sword.
Of course, making an enormous point, such as that Jesus was violent and urged violence based on one verse should raise equally enormous red flags.
Matthew chap. 10 begins with Jesus sending his Apostles out on missionary journeys. How is this for His violent ways?
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff…
If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet…
So, at this point, the lack of peace that Jesus preached pertained to those who would not receive the Apostles, would not receive Jesus’ message. When this happens, the Apostles were simply to leave them alone and go on their way.
Jesus added:
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles..
They would not only deal with rejection but persecution, including arrest, trials and scourging. But what would be the result of their preaching?
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name…
The persecution would reach such a point that relatives will turn each other in to the authorities. So, it was a matter of self-defense and they were right to pull their swords out and lop off some heads…right? Jesus instructed them further:
But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next…
So again, leave them in peace and move on. But why not fight back?
Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul…
And then Jesus pulls out His sword:
Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
Thus, at this point we can inform the counter-arguer that the sword is, most certainly, not a physical sword. Rather, it is a parabolic, symbolic, metaphoric sword and no, it is not a peaceful sword. But what is the parabolic, symbolic, metaphoric meaning? Just what the text states: when Jesus’ message is proclaimed some will accept it and some will deny it. Those who deny it will react against it in violent, betraying manners.
This division is envisioned as a sword that cuts, separates, distinguished believers from unbelievers. All that we have seen is that the message will cause division but that the lack of peaceful actions are one sided: unbelievers will persecute believers but believers are to leave them alone, in peace, and the Apostles were to move on.
Some of us Jews who have come to accept Jesus as the Messiah know this very, very, very well and have personally experienced it within our families as they besmirch us for our beliefs. This is why Jesus went on to say:
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….
We love our fathers but not more than Jesus, our love for our fathers cannot cause us to reject the Messiah: we must love Jesus even more, even if this causes our fathers to divide form us.
You see, the text is clear that the Apostles would be violently persecuted. Yet, the counter-arguer cares not about that. He is not interested in condemning violence but only in condemning Jesus, His Apostles and 2,000 years of Christian history.
Consider the elucidating text of Luke 12:51 wherein Jesus makes the Matthew chap. 10 point for us:
Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
There it is in plain language, “division.”
Or, consider another sword in Hebrews 4:12,
For the word of God [is] living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…
But how is it like a sword?
…piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Because it divides.