***
Gospel: Matthew 10:34 – 11:1
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s enemies will be those of his household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples,
he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
“I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother.”
The last thing many families need in this modern world is more division. There are already plenty things that can divide us: politics, personality, identity, dreams. The list goes on.
Why add faith to this potentially explosive equation?
It’s easy to wish a strong breeze came and swept this page away while Matthew was writing his Gospel. Surely, both he and Jesus understood how deeply families can hurt or help each other – the shared history and memories run so deep.
***
But faith runs even deeper.
Deeper than DNA.
***
There’s a God-shaped hole inside every human heart, which only God can fill – nothing else will satisfy it. Not even the best marriage, the tightest family, or all the money in the world.
While these are certainly blessings, faith has a way of cutting us to the core when awakened.
I’ve listened to a number peers, for example, who have been happily married for years. But over time, one has experienced an emergent faith – a desire for Jesus – which the other has not.
As a result, one spouse prays alone. Attends church alone. Questions alone. Or they begin seeking advice from those who have faith. While it’d be easier to ignore that God-shaped hole within, doing so only magnifies the reality it’s there.
In that sense, faith can cause a rift in a marriage – not because faith is a negative thing, quite the opposite! – but because one spouse has ventured into a deeper level of reality – and themselves, while the other has not.
The same is true in terms of inter-generational relationships – parents versus children, and so on. I experienced this type of division when choosing to enter the seminary. Not everyone I loved shared the same desire for God.
***
While this Gospel passage may leave us uneasy, it also points to a profound truth: we are loved – more than anyone, by God.
We belong to a family – more than any, to God’s family.
We will continue to search and seek until we find Who we are looking for. As Saint Augustine once proclaimed, “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in you, O LORD.”
***
***
Image credits: (1) The New York Times (2) Grace Theological Seminary (3) Caffeinated Thoughts
This was a tough reading. I had a hard time explaining this to my 13 year old grandson who recently has shown some interest in the readings. It just seems so contradictory to “Love one another….” Thank you for trying to share this interpretation but honestly still a bit baffling. Btw I was a Catholic school religion teacher for 35 years.