Almost invariably, when discussing the nature of Jesus Christ with my Christian brothers & sisters, the conversation at some point tends to turn to his infamous (and courageously brilliant) call for us all to “Love our enemies” … As a non-religious-yet-thoroughly-devout Follower of The Way (a radically selfless style of living championed by Christians and non-Christians alike — from Buddha to St. Francis to Rumi to Gandhi to MLK to Peace Pilgrim), I tend to advocate & support this particular teaching gently and yet with great zeal. For I have seen firsthand how it powerfully works in all sorts of “dangerous” and “deadly” situations, and I understand how its wisdom perfectly meshes with what secular scientists have so far come to understand about the basic nature of both human psychology and human sociology … Essentially, actively & humbly choosing to be sincerely Kind to those “least worthy” of that Kindness (&/or those “enemies” we least wish to give the same) FUNCTIONS every time it is employed, and it does so in exact proportion to the degree of courage we happen to require when doing so.

Of course, almost without exception, almost all of my Christian counterparts (and indeed almost all of my non-Christian ones as well) tend to loudly protest that such a belief system is “not at all what Jesus meant” in the Sermon on the Mount — that to be nice to our neighbors and co-workers and associates and even the occasional stranger is one thing, but to be actively Kind to those who are scaring us or harming us is “enabling” &/or “irresponsible” &/or “crazy” &/or even “masochistic” … And to add a bit of weight to their claims, my Christian Friends tend to fire away with Matthew 10:34, which has Jesus Christ uttering the somewhat ominous —

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth;
I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Case closed, right? … Well, not exactly.

Indeed, as is the case with almost any Bible verse, this one can by itself be taken and molded any number of ways to support any number of claims. Indeed, if I didn’t know any better (having been involved in an active, daily “Love affair” with the Bible for the past 11 years of my life), I too would possibly believe that this verse meant that Jesus was an avid supporter of violently destroying our enemies abroad (see ISIS) or of vociferously damning all the “heretics” at home.

AND YET — as is also the case with almost any Bible verse, a full understanding of a verse’s depth (and therefore its brilliance) can only be appreciated by having the humility & the diligence to LOOK DEEPER … And this is what I will now do with the “Sword of Christ” in Matthew 10:34 …

Consider:

*The IMMEDIATE CONTEXT: Discovering what was originally intended with any particular Bible verse is often as easy as reading the verses that immediately precede or immediately follow it. In this case, we need look no further than the latter to see that the “sword” Jesus was talking about was the the lack of Peace that comes to all HOUSEHOLDS when one member thereof chooses to break free from conventional tradition to start living the selfless Way of radical Kindness and humble Service he advocated —

“For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” ~ Jesus (Matthew 10:35-36)

So right away, without even looking any further, we can see that Matthew 10:34 really has nothing at all to do with condemning those who believe differently than we do, or “defending ourselves” by physically attacking those who we fear will harm us in the future. No, my Friends, quite clearly this verse is telling us that IF we have the courage to set forth on the Narrow Way of humble generosity & brave self-sacrifice, that our family members & our closest friends will probably reject such a decision — that they will probably worry about us openly and even sometimes loudly encourage us to abandon our new Way and “return to the fold”. Indeed, while I cannot speak for anyone else who has made this great Leap of Faith, I myself did find this particular interpretation to be True for me when I first set out on The Way back in the early months of 2006.

*The SYNOPTIC COMPARISON: Another great way to analyze a particular verse of Scripture is to examine other places in the Bible where its speaker makes similar statements … Matthew, Mark & Luke (known by Biblical scholars as the “Synoptic Gospels”) are especially great for this, as they all tend to follow a very similar story line — and indeed as most scholars are now in agreement that Matthew & Luke were written using Mark (the first Gospel written) as a model for their own works. In the case at hand, we can see in the 12th chapter of Luke that the situation found in Matthew 10 is seemingly being described again, and yet here the word choice used by the author of Luke is significantly different —

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather DIVISION.” ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 12:51)

So here again, another piece of evidence falls into place suggesting that Jesus is talking about the emotional conflict that arises between those choosing to remain shackled to the relatively self-focused political & religious conventions of their day vs. those who choose to break free of the same to live lives of radical, selfless, courageous LOVE.

*The NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXT: Next, we can look at how a particular word — in this case “sword” — is used by its utterer (in this case Jesus) throughout the rest of the particular Testament where it is found. In the case at hand, most famously we see Jesus telling his disciples quite clearly in three of the four Gospels that “to live by the sword is to die by the sword” (paraphrased — see Matthew 26:52-55, Luke 22:49-52 & John 18:10-11). This is quite obviously a radical call to NONviolence, especially when we note that Jesus is being violently arrested by an armed throng of ill-intended enemies when he makes this statement.

In addition, we also find one other passage of interest related to Jesus and swords in the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus tells his disciples to begin preparing for the end of his ministry, and that “the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one”. Taken alone, this verse also seems to advocate arming oneself for purposes of conflict or self-defense, and yet critical are the few verses that immediately follow, where his disciples tell him that they have two swords already — two swords to fight the entire Roman garrisons of Jerusalem and the entire throng of angry Pharisees therein as well — and Jesus looks to them (probably smiling) and says “It is enough” (Luke 22:36-38); quite obviously saying thereby that this greatest of conflicts — the conflict between darkness & the Light; the battle between evil & Goodness; the war between fear & Love — is NOT a fight that can be won using any kind of force or violence.

*The FULL BIBLE CONTEXT: Finally, after exhausting the aforementioned tools of interpretation, we can know the greater depths of any particular term in the Bible by seeing where and how it is applied in the rest of the Bible. In the case at hand, “sword” is used in quite a few places in the Old Testament — much of the time in the standard Old Testament context of violence or self-defense (two concepts that Jesus consistently rebuked throughout his ministry). And yet there are two particular exceptions that are both intriguing and somewhat telling …

The FIRST comes from “Isaiah II” (the author of Isaiah chapters 40-55, who happens to be the Old Testament author that Jesus quotes more than all others) and states that “He made my MOUTH like a sharp sword” (Isaiah 49:2 — reminiscent of Hebrews 4:12’s “the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”) …… and the SECOND is an intriguing reflection upon Isaiah 66:16 (written by “Isaiah III”, an author of whom Jesus was apparently NOT very fond). Here, in direct opposition to the all-Loving Father so often & so openly championed by Jesus (see Luke 6:36 + Matthew 5:48), we see a very angry God brutally slaying many who have disappointed Him —

“For by fire will the Lord execute judgment, and by his sword, on all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many.” ~ Isaiah 66:16

Now what is especially interesting about this particular “sword” passage is how differently we see Jesus respond in an eerily similar situation found much later in the Bible (in the 9th chapter of Luke), where he and his disciples have just been driven away by a Samaritan village (the cultural arch-enemy of the Jews in Jesus’ day), and his disciples ask him if he wants them to “command fire to come down from heaven and consume them”. And yet instead of repeating the violence & wrath wrought by God in Isaiah 66, Jesus instead turns to his disciples and sternly rebukes their lust for violent retribution upon those who have trespassed against them (see Luke 9:51-55).

CONCLUSION … As you can probably tell, I could ever go on & on about the contents of the Bible — its multi-layered wisdom and its wondrous depths, and yet I think we can now at least put this particular verse to rest in its proper bed … Jesus was a Prophet of Peace and a self-proclaimed Son of a God whose LOVE knew no conditions and whose Grace knew no limitation. As such, any time a verse is used to contradict that notion — any time the words of Jesus are used to justify condemnation or violence of any kind — you can be almost positive that even a cursory investigation will uncover a far different meaning; a meaning that reflects his call for us to live boldly as agents of Compassion & Forgiveness — a meaning that encourages & fulfills his ultimate message of Love & Peace instead.

Amen … Let it be so.

“Forgive them, Father … for they know not what they do.” ~ Jesus Christ, said while nailed to the cross no less (Luke 23:34)