For Sunday Proper 7A
Collect
O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
This passage is among the most troubling parts of the gospel because it is both difficult to grapple with and often misused by some. And this centers around an image Jesus uses to speak about his purpose in the world being to divide it. Which seems both counterintuitive and markedly different from his other stated goal: shalom.
Many will mistake this moment for the “real” one, take the image as literal and defend their aggressive, dividing strategy for the way of Jesus. Many others will mistake the moment for metaphorical language and dismiss this notion of division for the greater purpose of unity. Both of these impulses are common, but ultimately, mistaken. Because, to Matthew’s vision of Jesus, there is nothing incompatible here.
The sword image is not a justification for violence, aggression, dominance, or pressing for supremacy. It is to draw the distinction between the active participation in the kin-dom-building work of Jesus and the cultural continuity of families and communities. Which is why Jesus doesn’t come to keep the peace of dysfunctional family systems, but to bring the sword of division that helps free those shackled by them.
It is important to remember that healing is “divisive” to sickness as resurrection is “divisive” to death. All unity, like peace, must come through shalom: restoring wholeness, justice, and active peace. Otherwise, the absence of violence can merely hide the presence of injustice for the sake of the comfort of the powerful.