I have come to bring not peace but division. If Peter had thought that Jesus’ earlier statement on the need to be vigilant was asking too much from them, he was mistaken. Jesus was not finished yet. In today’s passage, Jesus continues the conversion wherein he opens their eyes to the reality of the ministry they had signed up for. Because of the demands the Gospel message makes of its hearers, the disciples need not be alarmed in case they encounter some resistance along the way. As a matter of fact, the disciples should be prepared for such a mixed response since their master expects nothing less. “My message will set a son against his father and a daughter in law against her mother in law,” says Jesus.
How can we reconcile the above statement by Jesus with the fact that he is the prince of peace? Wasn’t his birth announced as ushering an era of peace (cf. Luke 2:1-14)? Jesus is indeed the prince of peace, and his birth ushered in an era of peace. And even as Simeon had prophesied that the baby Jesus was to be a sign that is opposed, and that he will cause the rise and fall of many (cf. Luke 2:33-34), Jesus brought to the world the gift of peace, a peace that the world had not known (cf. John 14:27). So what do we make of Jesus’ statement?
In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus makes made the statement in the context of him giving instructions to those he was to send on mission (cf. Matthew chapter 10). Jesus did not want to beat about the bush about what awaited them in the field. He did not issue the statement in order to scare the disciples but rather to prepare them for what was lying ahead of them. The message that Jesus wanted them to bring to the ends of the earth was not going to be welcome by everyone. It was a message that was not only going to challenge its hearers but also to demand something from them. It was a message that was going to challenge the status quo even as it championed change. Those who are disposed to the kingdom that Jesus was ushering would readily welcome the message of Jesus whereas those who are not of the kingdom would oppose the message. This is how the division that Jesus talks about would come about.