To clean things up? To make peace?
Blessed are the peacemakers...
How would you explain this verse?
Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
I studied this one quite a bit in the past, and came to the conclusion that Jesus was talking about His knowledge that His teachings would divide, not unite, at least temporarily.
I submit that Jesus was viewed more of as a complainer... given a crown of thorns and cast out quite literally. Moderated merely for his words which were found... disagreeable.
I submit that Jesus was an action-taker. I read about His ministry and He did an awful lot of feeding, healing, etc. in 3 years. He was seen as a danger to Roman authority due to His revolutionary teachings and works.
It was not that His words were disagreeable, nor did He say things merely to poke and prod. It was that He challenged that which oppressed people, that exploited people, that separated people from God... and this is inherently dangerous to the status quo. He did not disagree with everything (for example, He did not come to abolish the law) but rather was pointing out the inherent worth of all people, and the possibility of love and faith in everyone, and the importance of forgiveness for even those that seem most abhorent ("Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do"). But the elite know that if people really lived as Christ, the established structure that keeps them in power would fall. And so I contend that He was, in part, executed as a combatant of the existing State.
I also think it was testimony to His teaching. Without His death as it was, His teaching would be less real. We would not know if, under the greatest duress, He would follow His own teaching.
And on top of all that, there was a spiritual shift in this human being embodying the Divine, a bridge that was eternal came into the temporal world...
Personally, I choose to make my spirituality, my sacred text, my religion an attempt to unify, to uplift, to love.
I am not into picking and prodding and poking at people, especially with Christ's words. I believe they are there for illumination of the soul, engagement with the Divine... not for lashing out at each other. That's just my take on it. The question I'd pose to you... is what is the point of your questions to me? Christ clearly talked about the value of taking action and the importance of being peaceful. So what was your intent with this post? Was it to illumine, or to attack? To uplift, or to drag down? To simply poke at me, halfway on topic? And is that intent aligned with the purpose of sacred text?
