Monday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 12, 2021

Matthew 10:34 — 11:1

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple– amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”  When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.”  The Greek actually says, “I came to set peace”.  The Greek says “I came” in the aorist tense, which indicates the simple past, rather than the perfect tense in the translation.  And it is “to set” or “to place”, not ‘to bring”.  The sense is that the Lord is looking back at his Incarnation and its purpose.  “I have come” implies a gradual emergence.  The Lord’s message at the end of his life is the same as when he began to preach.  He has not come to “set” peace, that is, to make it solid upon the earth.  If we had peace now, we would have less incentive to strive for heaven.  Instead, he has “come to bring not peace but the sword.”  Again, to “set” the sword, to establish enmity.  The Lord elaborates: “to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother.”  That is, to make a man hostile against his father, etc.  This is no mere difference of opinion but open warfare between even members of the same family: “One’s enemies will be those of his household.”  We do not see the Lord actually doing this during his Public Life, so we have to understand what he is saying in a different way.  That is, the revelation of his divinity and the Gospel he preached will sharply divide people.  There will be no neutrality regarding him and his teachings.  As the Lord himself says, “He who is not with me is against me” (Matthew 20, 12).  

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.”  This is both a warning and an exhortation.  It is a warning for those whose faith is weak, and an exhortation for those whose faith is strong.  As a warning, the one with the weak faith is admonished to pray for strength and to set his eyes on the Crucifix.  As an exhortation his words fortify the one who finds hostility from family or friends regarding the place of the Lord Jesus in his life.  Even more, a person must love Jesus more than loves his own life: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”  That is, the believer must accept the consequences of believing and spreading the Gospel.  We are servants who ought not to think of ourselves in our service to the Lord: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”  He is speaking particularly to his Apostles, who will later found and govern churches in the fullness of the Priesthood as bishops.  Therefore, whoever receives the appointed representative of the Lord for the sake of the Lord, receives the Lord.  But this is also true for all the faithful, for inasmuch as we are baptized and made members of the Body of Christ and are nourished by his Sacraments, we all represent the Lord.  Those who receive us and our virtuous examples and prudential words also receive the Lord — he works through all of us.

The Lord’s words here are uncompromising.  If anyone but the Son of God had uttered them, we should think him a madman.  No mere human can make demands like this of another human.  But God not only can, but he does, for it is by his will that we were created and that we are preserved in existence.  He is our beginning and end, and without him we can do nothing (cf. John 15, 5).  He alone can save us. And teach us how to be saved.  Increasingly in our world we find that meaning melts away as soon as we look at it hard.  But the Son of God means what he says, and he will save the one who loves him more than father or mother and who preserves his faith through the hostility of those who oppose God.  Those who do not love him above all things will not be able to persevere in their faith in him, and they will fall away into darkness.  It is so necessary for us to pray regularly, continuously, to God so that our faith and love might increase, and our hope one day become certainty.