“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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 household.’
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

Matthew 10:34-39

Peace is defined as: “freedom from disturbance; tranquility.”

From the Good Shepard’s mouth we hear that his Good News is not that of peace, but of division; not of tranquility, but of struggle; not of sameness, but of change.

Jesus is referred to as the Prince of Peace; how can we reconcile such an honorific in light of this Gospel passage?

Perhaps Jesus wasn’t advocating against peace, instead instructing his disciples that the pathway from Desert to Calvary would be laden with thorns and booby traps and critics and pain, lots of pain, and harsh words from well-meaning folk and ridicule and, for some, even bodily death.

This is not the path of freedom from disturbance. This is not the path of tranquility.

We don’t fully understand the context of this teaching, but perhaps Jesus felt the need to awaken his followers. Maybe some of them believed that the pursuit of Jesus was the pursuit of power, prestige, pleasure, and peace. Maybe Jesus used this opportunity to rid his disciples of their wrong perception, to remind them that his teachings were hard to accept, harder to practice, and hardest of all to live day in and day out.

Man against father. Daughter against mother. Families divided, some in favor of the status quo, others intent on seeking the Risen Christ. And from this dynamic, this painful and stressful dynamic, what is Jesus’ instruction: to be worthy of Christ, you must love God more than your closest kin.

This is a hard teaching. For many of us, it goes against our nature.

That is why it can be said: Jesus turned things upside down.