There are certain passages in the bible that priests tend to dread when they appear in cycle of readings. Today’s is one that always tops the list: Do not think that I have come to bring Peace, rather the sword.” So, what happened to the sweet baby Jesus, the idea of blessed are the peacemakers, and turning the other cheek? First and foremost, a reading such as this serves as a perfect example of why a community of believers has always been seen as the interpreter of the scriptures and not individual interpretation. Second, the sense of this reading must be understood with the body of the scriptures, not taken as a “sound bite,” as if this one line represented the whole. Difficult as this reading is, it does point to a fundamental reality of the struggle between good and evil. The use of familial strife is used as image of how closely, at times, we join ourselves to those attitudes and actions that take us from God and that separating ourselves from evil can appear to be rather traumatic. This reading points to the ingrained nature of some choices and how difficult it may be to remove them.