Matthew 10:34-42 - by Don Neuendorf
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace on the earth."
That's a disappointing phrase, isn't it? We prefer Jesus' words just one chapter later, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Can both those phrases be true at the same time?...
Our current media culture has a tendency to call anyone who speaks the way Jesus did a "warmonger." It is sometimes considered "hate speech" to claim that someone else's deeply held beliefs are wrong - or that they will lead to evil consequences. Our culture is focused on and driven by emotion, so the primary concern is whether words or ideas make people feel good or bad.
Jesus is not Feeling-focused. Jesus is Truth-focused. And the Truth divides people.
Feelings come, in a sense, in percentages. Even little children understand this, and they wrestle with the vocabulary to describe degrees of relationships. "So-and-so is my best friend, but you're my friend too. And this other person is a friend but not a good friend..." We can be "friends" or be friendly with very many people, and yet we can simultaneously be very opposed to some things about them. We may agree on almost nothing, but enjoy golfing together. That's all fine. Those are feelings.
But Jesus says that the Truth is absolute. It is 100% or 0%. If we are with him, if we believe in him, then we are absolutely separated from other things or people - as idols. Understand this carefully, we will still care for others as Jesus himself commands us to do, but we will not follow anyone else above Jesus. And that is what the world demands. That is what will cause this division.
"If you're my friend and you like me then you'll do this with me." Children talk that way. They connect affection with obedience. But Jesus insists that if we are his friends then we must follow only him. If we are following him then we will love others - but we love them because he loves them and because they are of eternal value.