Not Peace But Division

The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

One of Jesus’ most beautiful titles comes from the prophecy of Isaiah: “Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). The day that Christ was born, the angels announced his birth with great joy and praised God for blessing humankind with peace. We repeat this praise at every Sunday mass when we pray: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth! (Lk 2:14).

Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus kept repeating his message of peace:

• He taught us in the Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Mt 5:9). In other words, he meant that our God is the God of peace, so people who seek peace and pursue it reflect his character.

• He also taught us: If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also (Mt 5:39). Again, his meaning was clear: put up with other people and their anger as a way to diffuse conflicts and further peace. Don’t offer any resistance or retaliation if you’re attacked or ill-treated.

• The very last time that Jesus visited Jerusalem, his message was once again one of peace: As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes (Lk 19:41-42). He wept because the city refused his message and was on a course that was bound to lead them to destruction: Your enemies… will dash you to the ground… They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you (Lk 19: 43-44).

• Even after the Resurrection, Jesus’ disciples proclaimed what Paul called the “gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15) and the “word of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). And these weren’t just pious platitudes, but the lived experience of Christ’s followers. Individuals and groups of people who were formerly at odds found themselves reconciled through their common devotion to Christ.

Yes, Jesus’ unwavering message is a call to peace.

That’s why today’s gospel seems so jarring and out of character when Our Lord proclaims: Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Lk 12:51). Then he goes on to describe the tensions and conflicts that will come about in families.

Actually, Jesus speaks from personal experience. There are indications in the gospels that some members of his own family were not supportive or even sympathetic with his ministry. You may remember the scene where so many people gathered at his door that he couldn’t even sit down to dinner. Mark’s gospel says: When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind” (Mk 3:21). And in John’s gospel, we hear that when some of Jesus’ relatives were told about his miracles, they didn’t believe in him (Jn 7:5).

So, when Jesus said that he had come to bring “not peace but division,” he meant that this would be the effect of his coming, not that it was the purpose of his coming.

We know that his words came true in the life of the early Church—and they continue to come true today.

In one of my previous assignments, a parishioner came to see me one day. She was a devout Catholic and had been married for a long time to a successful doctor who was now elderly and terminally ill. Her husband was fiercely anti-Catholic. He refused to be married in the Church. He wouldn’t even consider being baptized. Frankly, his wife was scared for his soul. Up to his dying day, he refused to give in.

I’ve also comforted other parishioners who converted to Catholicism and found themselves rejected by their own parents and relatives in the most hurtful and hateful way. They call our religion “not Christian” and “the whore of Babylon.”

These examples are exactly what Jesus warns us about today. He reminds his followers that their allegiance to him could very well cause conflict at home, and possibly even expulsion from the family circle. They couldn’t later come back and say, “We never expected that this would be the price for following Jesus!” He told us in advance.

But perhaps there is a bit of happy irony, because Jesus does bring us his peace even in the midst of such family turmoil. When in our words and deeds we stand up for Christ and God’s Truth, even when we are met with opposition, we can take comfort in knowing that Christ is with us. That sense of interior peace is the same peace that sustained Our Lord even as he hung dying on the cross.

As Christian believers, we are called into the battlefield of spiritual warfare. It is easy to quietly go along with friends and family members so as not to make waves. If Christ had made that kind of “peace” with the Jews and Romans of his day, we would have forgotten about him 2,000 years ago. But instead, he shows us how to be courageous and true peacemakers.

Jesus said: I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! (Lk 12:49). May each of us strive to carry the Lord’s torch.