Matthew 10:34-37

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the land. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

³⁵ For I have come to divide a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

³⁶ And a man’s enemies will be those within his own household.

³⁷ The one loving father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and the one loving son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. _________________________________________

workers need to establish their love priority

Christianity is a family-friendly faith. Jesus does not call on believers to renounce membership in their families, or to declare their family members enemies because they do not accept his kingdom. That is not what he declares here. The gospel message of grace heals families, and reconciles the broken relationships within them caused by sin, shame, and selfishness.

Yet, Jesus did warn his apostles that as they set about proclaiming the gospel of his coming sky kingdom in Galilee, they will find that much of the opposition to their message will come from their own families. The message of peace that they bring will feel very much like a sword. It will divide the very families it is designed to make whole.

Their neighbors might have the distance that will allow them to avoid these religious fanatics, but the people in their households will not. They will feel the pressure both ways. The believers in the family will keep at it until the unbelievers make a decision, the unbelievers will urge them not to get carried away with this Jesus thing. Pressure produces friction, and the closer one is to the source of pressure, the more friction will be felt. That is why preaching the gospel can be a source of family upheaval and strife.

Curiously, Jesus does not give us a quick, five step program for resolving this conflict. But, to be fair, that is not the issue he is teaching about here. These words are instructions to missionaries who are sent to their own hometowns to share the gospel. Since that is true, he instructs them to make their love and loyalty to him a priority – even over their love for family.

There is a general application here for Christians who have unbelievers in their families. It is that Jesus wants our love for him to be our first love priority. If Jesus and his coming kingdom from the sky is not our first priority, then we are still on the outside of that kingdom, looking in. He taught us to “seek first the kingdom from God and desire his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you”[1] A strong, healthy family is something we all want, but we have to get the priority right, or even that might become a curse rather than a blessing. On the judgment day, we all will appear before Jesus Christ as individuals. Of concern that day will not be how strong or unified our families were. What will matter will be our personal relationships with Christ.

LORD, give us the wisdom to establish you and your kingdom as the love priority of our lives.

[1] Matthew 6:33.