"In Matthew 10:34 Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
This is one of those perplexing saying of Jesus that often gets swept under the rug because it doesn’t fit with the kind, loving, gentle and meek persona of Jesus that many people associate with the Jesus of Christianity.
Jesus was no saint. The story we have about him is largely him questioning and challenging the legitimacy and authority of the dominant religious system and its ecclesiastical hierarchy. The real Jesus was a scrappy, subversive, radical and dangerous person, and was public enemy #1 to religion and the state. Jesus infuriated the religious establishment, turned over tables in the temple, and would not bow down to the worldly powers and authorities of his day.
Jesus clearly recognized that the world and its people were enslaved and held hostage to a power that needed to be struck down. That power existed in the form of a false belief, mindset, and narrative that separated people from God and one another. Driven by ego and self-interest, some had learned to manipulate people with these false mindsets and ideologies to oppress the masses and benefit the few, namely the institutions of religion and the state who often worked in tandem to keep the racket going.
Jesus came onto the scene and proclaimed that another world and society was possible, and that it already existed in the heart of humankind. He referred to it as “the kingdom of heaven” – the reality of peace, freedom, harmony and well-being. Jesus taught that this kingdom within could be lifted up out ourselves and made real in the world. It first requires one to dethrone those ruling beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies within themselves and connect with that deeper source within them, and then give expression to that inner reality through are words, actions and relationships in the world.
Which brings me to Matthew 10:34 and Jesus saying, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” We know Jesus words here do not mean that he was advocating violence and bloodshed. There are several occasions when Jesus makes this explicitly clear, and times when he backs down his followers who are on the brink of taking up arms against the establishment.
However, it was clear that Jesus understood that there would be distress and conflict in the birthing of the “kingdom of heaven on earth.” Why? Because there would be a clash of two kingdoms – the kingdoms of the world based on false ideologies and the kingdom of heaven within the hearts of humankind.
The old order – those false beliefs, mindsets, narratives and ideologies and the systems and structures of our world based on them – are not going to go quietly into the night. What Jesus meant by his words in Matthew 10:34 is, “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy.” There will be conflict, there will be division, there will be confrontation, there will be distress, there will be instability, and it’s not always going to be pretty. When tectonic plates start shifting, there is turbulence. That is what the “sword” represents. We can see the reality of this in the life that Jesus lived and it will also be true in our lives."
- Jim Palmer, Inner Anarchy
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