Division

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9).

Peace in Christ (Kate Lee)

Sometimes Christ said shocking things…

Firstly, He told us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9).  With our modern Christian perspective, this is nothing amazing.  After all, we have been taught for two millennia that we should love our enemies and that we should forgive everything…

But in Christ’s time that was a very unusual thing – to be called to make peace and not war.  People lived during a time of invasion where their rights were nothing compared with their oppressors and conquerors.  People were waiting for the Messiah, who they believed would deliver them from bondage and would make war against their oppressors and keep them physically safe from harm.  And there was Christ teaching exactly the opposite.  Yes, I am the Messiah – He said, and No, you should not make war, you should be peaceful because the peacemakers are blessed…

But then later, Christ said, “Jesus said, ‘Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother.’” (Luke 12:49-53).

And I have been reflecting on his latter statement…  After all, it seems such a contradiction from the first.  And yet, upon reflection it seems to make sense to me…

Christ is calling us to be divided from the things of the Earth.  “Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” (John 14:27).

God is not neutral.  Love is not neutral.  There is nothing neutral about great commitment to a cause.  We are called to great love and great understanding.  And as such we are called to be divisive at times.  We are called to be divisive from our earthly and material desires.  We are called to be divisive from sin and all the temptations of this world.

And how easy that sounds in theory and how difficult it is in practice.  It is one thing to say yes, I will not sin for love of God, and quite another not to swear at someone who annoys me, or to gossip about someone who upsets me, or judge someone who is cruel to me.

And I have been thinking about that today.  For perhaps it is the mission of my entire life to work on such divisions as these – to separate myself from sin and temptation even when I do not want to.  To provide for myself a spiritual place where I can be close to my Beloved without shame for my sinfulness and my selfishness.  Perhaps I am called to spend my earthly life trying to be better than I can be, because the only way to divide myself from sin is to nestle in the safety of Christ’s own protection of me…?

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.