THE GOSPEL AS A WEAPON, THE WAY MY DAD MAY HAVE TOLD IT TO HIS SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

In preparing lessons for his senior Sunday School class my father Ken relied heavily on a Teachers' Self-Pronouncing Reference Edition of The Holy Bible and to this day the now 90-year-old text with well-worn, delicate pages held together by duct ape, remains my main go-to source of biblical inspiration. Of particular fascination for me are notations left by my father on the blank front and back pages of the bible and I have checked out the scriptures quoted in all cases just for personal edification purposes.

The most intriguing notation, however, has been one referring to Matthew X -- 34 (stet): "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I am come not to send peace but a sword."  On the surface, those words would seem to run counter to everything else we ever learned about Jesus Christ as savior of the world.

How very shocking! Jesus "did not come to bring peace, but a sword"?! Why would He say such a thing? And why would Ken chose this controversial statement as a hook on which to hang a lesson for a group of Sunday School teenagers, 12 to 15 years of age?

Truth be known, ministers of the word and sacraments have been known to purposely avoid Matthew 10:3 in sermons because of the awkwardness in interpreting its true meaning. 

Because I was in an intermediate class, just behind those senior SS kids taught by my dad, I was not privy to how he actually handled the lesson on this particular Sunday (perhaps in 1949 or '50). But what follows will be what I think Ken's message could have been.

Ken Wright
(1899-1952)

Up front, I think he would have explained that what Jesus was doing here was correcting false assumptions about what the Messiah's mission was. According to Isaiah 9:5-7, the Messiah is described as the "Prince of Peace". The interpreters of the Hebrew Scriptures took that to mean that the Messiah would be the "Prince of Peace" ON EARTH. That, however, was not Jesus' mission. The ultimate goal of the Gospel was, and is, not harmony on earth, but PEACE WITH GOD(Rom.5:1).

I think we would all agree that peace does not come easily. Right now, all over the world, war and unrest is rearing its ugly head. And it would be ignorant to suggest that these countries are enjoying what is taking place. Peace is always preferable, but the reality is, when two sides strongly disagree on something, conflict is inevitable.

The same goes for the Gospel. The goal of the Gospel is NOT conflict--with God, or with each other. The goal of the Gospel is "peace with God"(Rom.5:1). The difficulty is that the Gospel presents such a penetrating message that it acts like a "sword". It pierces the consciences of humanity and calls us to love God more than we love ourselves.

That, in essence, is what Jesus was implying. He warned that profound conflict should be expected between those who accept the Gospel and those who reject it.

Likely everyone reading this post today can relate to what Jesus was saying. When you go to work, what do you usually talk about with your co-workers? Sports? Fashion? Home repair? Anything and everything, but not religion.

When your family gathers at Christmas, what do you talk about? Anything and everything, but not religion. Why? Because honest, from the heart, discussions on religious beliefs inevitably causes conflict. We have all been there -- at least I have. Even with fellow Christians, conflicts arise when it comes to getting straight the message of Jesus. It is inevitable.

Nowhere in all of this is there the sense that we should run from this conflict either. It is presented as an inevitability -- "A man's enemies WILL be the members of His household"(v.36). Now that doesn't give us permission to be obnoxious for the sake of the Gospel. This does not give us permission to pick fights with people who don't share our views. We are still required to be gentle, patient, loving, and gracious towards everyone. 

In our impulsive need(?) to often be reactive, the cause of conflict SHOULD NEVER BE our personality or our manner of presentation. The only legitimate cause of conflict is the CONTENT of the message. An abrasive personality should never be the "sword" -- the content delivered is the "sword", albeit subject to knee-jerk misinterpretation, simply because life is like that.

After warning His disciples about the potential the Gospel has for conflict, Jesus reminded them of their need for loyalty. Jesus told them that "he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me"(v.37).

Now Jesus did not call us to dislike our family members. And even though Luke's version would have us "hate" our family, we must conclude this to be relative. Scripture is clear in its command for us to "honour (our) father and (our) mother"(Ex.20:12). And Scripture makes it clear that we should love our spouses (Eph.5:25).

So what is Jesus getting at here? Quite simply, Jesus wants us to prioritize Him. He wants us to make Him our first loyalty, and to emphasize this He names the two things most precious to us: our family and our own life.

Those of you with aging or ailing parents, think about how you devote yourselves to seeing that they are looked after. Those of you with children, think about to what extreme you would go to, to defend, protect, and look after your children. You invest your valuable time and resources in them on a daily basis. Quite frankly, you put your "heart and soul" into your care for them.

Then you read this passage, "he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me".

If you work hard to love, and care for, your parents and children that is terrific. It really is. Jesus would think so too. Jesus is NOT asking anyone to abandon their love and care for family. What Jesus is calling for here is, that you put the same energy and care into your relationship with Him, as you do with the people you love most. In fact, He calls for more. This is the mark of a Christian disciple: ONE WHO PUTS JESUS FIRST.

"Christians should be known as hard workers. Christians should be known as good parents and committed spouses. But above all, Christians should be known as people committed to Christ -- committed to Him above all else."

That, in parenthesis, is precisely the message I think Ken would have left with his Sunday School class all those years ago.

We are extremely blessed here in 21th century North America. Few, if any, of us will ever be in danger because of our belief in Christ. Yet the Word of God still challenges to make sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel. And making sacrifices of time and resources is never easy. In fact, sacrificing may make us quite uncomfortable and cause us distress.

But this is the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. We stretch ourselves. We think about the vigour we have towards our career, towards supporting our family and we hear the call of God to give even more vigour and more enthusiasm for the sake of the Gospel.

Hope I did it justice dad!