Matt 10:32-39
How many people do you think would have travelled on the Titanic’s maiden voyage if they knew what was going to happen in the middle of the North-Atlantic?
Suppose that the people coming to the pier to board the ship saw a sign over the gangplank, “By boarding this ship, the passenger understands that they will be unceremoniously dunked into the frigid water as a result of a collision with an iceberg and they will probably die.” Many of course wouldn’t believe it. No one thought that the ship was vulnerable to being sent to the depths. It was called “unsinkable”. But suppose that they knew that sign to be true; how many would still board? How many would board for the sake of adventure or experience? How many would turn back in fear? Would any berth be taken? Would one or two people have their run of the ship? Would there be anyone left to make her sail?
My guess is that there would be a person or two who would chose to go just to see what happened. Some might even go feeling like they might be able to help. Most would probably turn around, refund their ticket and wait for the next east-bound ship.
In an interesting fashion, scripture records that Jesus warned people that following him had a similar drastic and life changing cost. Maybe it wasn’t death in a shipwreck, and the final outcome was infinitely more positive, but it still would have been significantly unsettling for anyone who heard it.
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
Is there anyone else who reads this passage and says, “Huh?!?”
The one who came for love of the world (Jn 3:16) and to save the world (Jn 3:17) has come to bring a sword and to mess up families?
This happens to be one of those passages highlighted by those who reject scripture as unacceptable and in conflict with itself. If scripture says things like this, it can’t be true.
Or can it?
Can Christ be telling something really important about what it means that he came to earth? Does his warning to the Jews and Gentiles of his day tell us something about what his coming for us really means?
Of course it does.
Christ came to alter everything in our lives. He came to make his people uncomfortable with anything that hindered them from following him. Discipleship requires everything from us without exception. There is nothing that is ‘sacred’ from his influence, presence and transformation.
In the culture of his day, familial relationships were strong, even to the point of idolatry. Mothers and fathers would have expectations of their children and vice versa that came to the point of worship. Christ came to transform priorities to realign them with the Father’s design. Christ called his people to obey the Spirit’s calling before expectations of family, before expectations of culture, and before the expectations of the world.
Sound like a message we need to hear?
Maybe some of us need some of the ‘good things’ in our lives messed with so that we can grab onto the best thing; giving glory to God with everything that we are and all that we do. Maybe some of the blessings that we experience in this life get in the way of living within the greatest blessing that we can experience; full and complete dependence on Christ and his plan and purpose for our life.
In this unique passage of text, Christ is telling us that He has come to blow everything up until we need to trust in Him. He’s willing to take away every crutch that we have until we lean on Him. And He doesn’t do this because He wants to see us squirm. He doesn’t do this just to break us. He breaks us so that we can love Him more, and loving Him more is the best for us. Jesus always wants the best for us and the best for us is…..Him.
Walking up the gangplank of the Titanic changed everything for those passengers. So does following Jesus.
Wanna punch your ticket?
