Our Gospel passage leaves an uneasy dissonance when we consider Jesus as the “Prince of Peace.” Jesus informs the disciples, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” He wishes the world was set on fire to purify it from the dross that has accumulated. Families will be divided, and we can underestimate the importance of family in Jesus’ Ancient Near East context. A person’s identity depended on largely to what groups one belonged, and one group which mattered above all the rest was one’s family. When Jesus mentions he comes to initiate family division, he will be unweaving the social fabric which held his society together.
These pronouncements of Jesus’ mission do not describe life during God’s renewed rule over creation. They highlight the fact that the world resists the Gospel message that Jesus preaches and that he is. There would be no division if we all acted in response to God’s great love for us. Families and communities would not be divided if we were of one heart and mind. The great difficulty in achieving unity shows that it is a gift from above, from the Holy Spirit. Like the grains of wheat gathered into the one bread, the Holy Spirit gathers a people together whose bonds of union are faith, hope, and love. These must be the bonds that become our foundation or we will never have the peace that Christ promises.
Jesus’ peace is not the mere absence of conflict or neglecting principles which should guide it. Peace comes from opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit so that we have the mind and heart of Christ. As people of faith, Jesus is our fundamental principle, the one which informs all other guidance for our thoughts, words, and actions. Let us pray that our desire to be like Christ grows so that we might treat the cause for division that lies at the center of our hearts. We will understand resistance towards the Gospel outside of us when we understand resistance inside of us. We will be guided to act with patience and love towards others because we will be reminded of God’s patience and love towards us.