"THE PEACE THAT DISRUPTS" - Matthew 10:34-42 (June 29, 2008)

Many people view Christ as one who was always at peace with the world. We overlook the times when Christ was challenging those around him to get their priorities straight. In a sense Christ is doing that here.

• He makes war on the false peace of complacency and conformity.
• He makes war upon our willingness to adjust our values to accommodate the massive injustices and inequalities in the world today which make possible so many of the advantages we enjoy.
• He makes ware on self satisfaction and false righteousness.
• He makes war on our earthbound aspirations, our self serving projects, our idolatrous loyalties.
• There is a violent shattering of the structures of life that we have constructed about us in this statement by Christ. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth! I have not come to bring peace but a sword!”

Often times we think that Christ came to bring peace to the world. We have images of turning the other cheek, becoming submissive, letting others walk all over us, in the name of Christ. Christ did bring peace, however he also brought a sword that disrupts.

Think back with me to the first century. Think about those 50 years after Jesus' death and what it must been like for Jesus' disciples. Before the last one died their efforts had brought about a half million men, women, and children into the ranks of the church. But what they had to suffer in order to accomplish this task is seldom discussed. We like the outcome of their discipleship but we don't want to hear the cost of discipleship. So for the record here is the cost: History tells us:

• Judas Iscariot, after betraying his Lord, hanged himself.
• Peter was crucified; head downward, during the persecution of Nero.
• Andrew died on a cross at Patrae, a Grecian Colony.
• James, the younger, son of Alphaeus, was thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple, and then beaten to death with a club.
• Bartholomew was flayed alive in Albanapolis, Armenia.
• James, the elder son of Zebedee, was beheaded at Jerusalem.
• Thomas, the doubter, was run through the body with a lance at Coromandel, in the East Indies.
• Philip was hanged against a pillar at Heropolis.
• Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows.
• Simon died on a cross in Persia (what we now call Iran.).
• Matthew was first stoned and then beheaded.
• John died of extreme old age exiled to the island of Patmos.

What sacrifices! And I ask you why? Why did they choose to die this way? Why desert your father and mother, your wife and child, and your home? Why put up with the constant humiliation, and hunger, and persecution, and defeat town after town after town?

I'll tell you why, because, in the words of Apostle Paul, they were held captive by the words and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is Paul's way of saying they were slaves to Christ. It is quite likely we shall never be tested to the extent that the disciples were, thank God, but that often leads us into complacency. Christ calls us to realize that a life of complacency and contentment is not a life at all. Christ calls us to find real life, a life of following him, giving ourselves to Him, being committed to Him, where we will find eternal life.

Let's look at the text. Jesus does not mince words with the twelve Apostles. He says, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." But what kind of sword is it that Jesus brings? Lord knows we have enough swords as it is. It is surprising to find that the sword he wields is used to divide the family. Jesus finished his thought this way: "For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-a man's enemies will be the members of his own house hold."

Now what is Jesus talking about? What Jesus anticipates is that within Jewish circles a commitment to him will bring division within the family. We mentioned this last week.

• A son who follows Christ will be at odds with a father who rejects the resurrection.
• A mother who becomes a disciple will be at odds with a daughter who believes she can live as she desires.
• A son-in-law will be at odds with the in-laws because he has led their daughter away from traditional Judaism.

No greater example can be found for the divisive nature of the Gospel than the life of Paul. Paul was an outstanding colleague among his peers. A Pharisee of Pharisees he calls himself. So trusted by the religious establishment, he was given the task of going to Damascus to arrest those who had fallen in with the disciples. But on that fate trip down the Damascus road he encountered the One whom he thought was dead. He encountered the resurrected Christ. His life was suddenly turned upside down. He now found himself on the other side-one of the followers of Christ and as a result he found himself at odds with his old colleagues. Nothing could be done to salvage the relationships that were lost.

He was suddenly cut off. Cut off from his career and his family. Paul was going to Damascus with a sword in his hands to persecute the Christians; he found Christ on that road and suddenly the sword was turned upon him. Yes he found peace but he also found a sword which cut him off from his past.

How mature are you in the faith? Don't answer with the number of years you have been in the church; answer with the level of sacrifices you have made.

Jesus shows us the next step in a life of discipleship, and that is in “Showing Hospitality”. The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked this question: What was the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture? He expected the answer to be a clay pot or perhaps a fish hook or grinding stone. Her answer was "a healed femur." The femur, of course, is the leg bone above the knee. Mead explained that no healed femurs are found where the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, reigns. A healed femur shows that someone cared. Someone had to do that injured person's hunting and gathering until the leg healed. The evidence of compassion, she said, is the first sign of civilization. I would contend that it is also the first sign of the work of Christ in the life of a Christian.

Jesus understood the importance of civility. Hospitality has fallen on some hard times these days but it shouldn't be that way in the church. Jesus pointed out that even the smallest act of kindness shall be rewarded. Jesus recognized that there are various levels of kind acts. "Those who help a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet reward" Jesus said. He added, "Those who receive a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward." But then he says, "And if anyone gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones (he was talking about those who help his disciples), I tell you the truth," he concluded, "he will certainly not lose his reward.

A small gesture to be sure-a cup of cold water-but none the less important because, and here is the significance, the act indicates that the person is open to the message of the disciple. He who receives you receives me, Jesus said. In a small act of kindness is the large act of receiving the Gospel of Christ.

The crucial issue of this text has to do with breaking in of the realm of Heaven in the ministry of and life of Jesus. Now two worlds lay side by side, the old world and the Kingdom, and people are faced with the decision of which world they will live in. That may seem like an easy choice, we think to ourselves, “Why, the kingdom of God, of course!” The dilemma exists because the old world still retains considerable power to give our lives meaning.

One can find in the old world friends, family, love, work, and even religion. The crises of the old world are not that it is empty and meaningless, but that it is obsolete. The new world is God’s future coming into being, and it does violence to the old world, which is doomed to pass away. The old world can provide structure and meaning, but only the new world, the Kingdom of God, can bring life. The old world provides a temporary shelter, but the life in the Kingdom leads home.

Jesus, then, does not call us to turn our backs on those we love. He calls us to turn our backs on the Old world, on all attempts to make ultimate meaning out of commitments other than our commitment to the Kingdom of God, even our most intimate and loving relationships. As ethicist Stanley Hauerwas states, “Now that we are in the presence of Jesus Christ, all our relations have been TRANSVALUED. In the death and resurrection of this man, a great reversal has taken place, causing all our natural loves to be TRANSFORMED.”

Some people love their families, their jobs, and their lifestyles, themselves INSTEAD of Christ. For them, the Kingdome comes like sword, cutting away all attempts to rest faith in these lesser, old world loyalties. Important as these aspects of life are, they are NOT the ultimate reality, and they cannot make us fully human.

Other people love families, jobs, lifestyles, and themselves ALONGSIDE Christ. For them the Kingdom also comes like a sword, slicing away the illusion that life can be compartmentalized that way. Christ is not one reality among many: Christ is the ULTIMATE REALITY from which all life flows. Only when a person abandons all attempts to derive ultimate meaning from that which is not ultimate can true life and meaning be found. “They who find their life will lose it, and they who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

• Only when we allow the sword of Christ’s kingdom to sever our ties to our little kingdoms,
• Only when we lose our lives for Christ’s sake, do we truly receive life.
• Only then do we know how to love,
• And only then can we love our families, our friends, and even our enemies through Christ and because of Christ and not instead of or alongside of Christ.

I like the legend about the famous monastery which had fallen on very hard times. Its many buildings were once filled with young monks, and chapel resounded with the singing of the choir. But now it was deserted. People no longer came there to be nourished by prayer. Only a handful of old monks remained.

On the edge of the monastery woods, an old rabbi had built a tiny hut. He came there from time to time to fast and pray. No one ever spoke with him, but whenever he appeared, the word would be passed from monk to monk: "The rabbi walks in the woods."

One day the abbot decided to visit the rabbi and bear his heart to him. As he approached the hut, the abbot saw the rabbi standing in the doorway, his arms outstretched in welcome. It was as though he had been waiting there for some time. The two embraced.

As he entered the hut, he saw in the middle of the room a wooden table with the Scriptures open. They sat there for a moment, in the presence of the Book. Then the rabbi began to cry. The abbot could not contain himself. He covered his face with his hands and broke down.

After the tears and all was quiet again, the rabbi lifted his head. "You and your brothers are serving God with heavy hearts," he said. "You have come to ask a teaching of me. I will give you a teaching, but you can only repeat it once. After that, no one must ever say it aloud again."

The rabbi looked straight at the abbot and said, "The Messiah is among you." The Abbot stood in stunned silence. Then the rabbi said, "Now you must go." The abbot left without ever looking back.

The next morning, the abbot called his monks together in the chapter room. He told them that he had received a teaching from the rabbi who walks in the woods, and that this teaching was never again to be spoken aloud. Then he looked at each of his brothers and said, "The rabbi said that one of us is the Messiah."

The monks were startled and thought to themselves: "What could it mean? Is brother John the Messiah? No, he's too old and crotchety. Is brother Thomas? No, he's too stubborn and set in his ways. Am I the Messiah? What could this possibly mean?" They were all deeply puzzled by the rabbi's teaching. But no one ever mentioned it again.

As time went by, though, something began to happen at the monastery. The monks began to treat one another with a reverence. They were gentle with one another. They lived with one another as brothers once again. Visitors found themselves deeply moved by the genuine caring and sharing that went on among them. Before long, people were again coming from great distances to be nourished by the prayer life of these monks. And young men were asking, once again, to become part of the community.

A Christianity of the old world is an easy Christianity. One that offers a comfortable peace, one that quiets our minds but never troubles our consciences or challenges our lives. A Christianity of the new kingdom that is genuinely rooted in:

• Service
• Hospitality
• Choosing God’s Kingdom, not our little kingdom’s
• Christ

is a Christianity that gives us a “PEACE THAT DISRUPTS.”