Peace or Division?

Gospel:  Matthew 10: 34 - 11: 1

In the Beatitudes Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, to be meek and humble of heart, to be merciful.  In today's reading we are now told that Jesus came to bring division and a sword.  Jesus, who himself never wielded a sword and who sought to gather all into the bosom of the Father, seems to contradict himself with today's passage.  

Yet, in the Beatitudes themselves we find the answer.  The division comes not from Jesus himself but from the reaction of the world against the values of the Beatitudes.  To be poor in spirit, meek, merciful, a peacemaker, pure of heart - all of these are bad for the business of the world that thrives on consumerism, self-interest, and divisions that create rivalry and competition rather than cooperation and the common good.  

It is the world that will wield the sword against Jesus and against those who live by the Beatitudes, and in the Beatitudes we find our coping strategy: to accept it with joy, forgiving those who do us harm, just as Jesus did in his trial and death.  We are called to be the persecuted, not the persecutors. This is the way of the Kingdom, this is the way to the Kingdom.