Reverend Ref +

SERMON
6 PENTECOST
PROPER 8A

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."

What are we to do with quotes like this? We seem to hear so much about loving your enemies, those who persecute you and your neighbors. We hear about Jesus including the outsider, the sinner and the 'other'. We try to be inclusive hoping that will bring unity and peace.

And then Jesus says, "I haven't come to bring peace, but a sword." Son against father, daughter against mother and so on. But before we go all Battle Hymn of the Repupblic and start marching our Christian soldiers onward, we might want to examine this passage a little more thoroughly.

First, think back to last week's gospel. "You will be handed over to councils and flogged." That passage, taken together with today's passage, makes it clear that the sword Jesusis talking about is the sword of persecution. When you proclaim Jesus first, as we must, people will turn against you. Whether that is actual persecution like in the Sudan and other parts of Africa and the Middle East where Christians are being murdered, or whether it is here where people think you odd for missing the golf game and stop associating with you.

Putting Jesus first means that you don't relate to the world in the same way, and that difference causes strife. Jesus wasn't advocating some grand crusade; he was stating the obvious. Make no mistake about it, nothing in the gospels, nothing that Jesus says, ever, advocates or justifies open conflict or warfare.

Besides looking at the gospel, we can also look at Paul's letter to the Romans, which we are currently reading through. Paul has been contrasting the situation between Adam and Jesus. It was through Adam, Paul maintains, that sin and death came into the world. It was through Adam that sin and death gained dominion in the world. It is through one man, Jesus, that grace andlife can be found. It is through Jesus that sin and death are defeated.

In our world, sin and death reign. But we have an opportunity to live differently than the world expects, and that is by living in Christ Jesus. It is that very proclamation that upsets the world, for we are upsetting the status quo and shaking things up by putting Jesus first. First above father. First above mother. First above son, daughter, friend, job or hobby. The world wants to be first, and that is why Jesus is not bringing peace.

Jesus divides us between worldly loyalties, family and personal desires. People don't want to put him first because he intereferes with what we desire. Putting him first is too demanding -- demanding of our time, of our talents, of our treasures. But this is what he is asking us to do. The ironly in all this is that by putting Jesus first, by dying to the whims of this world, we will be given a new life and a new purpose that we couldn't possibly have imagined before.

And now, in that context, maybe we can understand why Jesus doesn't bring peace. He doesn't bring peace because this world of sin and darkness despises righteousness and light. As long as there is that struggle, the struggle between worldly dominion and righteous dominion, there will not be peace on earth. As long as we proclaim Christ first, there will not be peace on earth.

But in the end, Christ wins. So we need to figure out, if not Jesus, who or what is first in our lives. And then we need to ask ourselves, "Why not Jesus?"