Jesus told his disciples that he came to bring not peace, but division. Jesus was seeking change, and that change would be opposed, bringing about divisions. In our world, we certainly still have the divisions, as any reference to politics will show, but do we want to heal them? Do we want to make a better world, or are we fighting just to fight?
Based on Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
(New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org)
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