Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Reinstatement]

Why would you respect a teacher who said this? If the teachings of Jesus have this intent, why bother? If this was forseen, could he not find a better way? Do these seem like the actions of perfect and moral deity to you?

[jimwalton]

You have to take the whole flow of his reasoning and not just pluck this out of context. It's part of a larger speech. Mt. 10.34 lies in the middle of a text where Jesus is sending his followers out as preachers of righteousness in a hostile world. Though there will be some who are receptive to the message, there will be hostile opposition and persecution as a backlash. He refers to and actually quotes from Micah 7.6-7, where the godlessness of the people has brought societal upheaval and family chaos. In verse 34, he takes a prophetic stance similar to Elijah: he has come as a preacher of righteousness to a spiritually wandering people. He has come to restore, and the way to do that is confront the prophets of sin (as with Elijah, or to bring the sword of the Lord, as with Gideon). This coming of his would not be the restoration of Zion peace (Isa. 2.4), but the stirring of God against a disobedient people. In v. 35-36 Jesus quotes from Micah to make the connection: he has come in righteousness to confront sin, to preach restoration to a people in exile, but the people will not hear or turn, just as in the days of Isaiah (6.9-13). Jesus’ own family turns against him (Mk. 3.21), as do his friends and townspeople (Lk. 4.14-30). He stirs up conflict only as Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the other prophets did. Jesus is here calling into being a community of voluntary commitment, willing for the sake of its calling to take upon itself the hostility of the given society.