(Listen to this homily here).
The teaching of Jesus this morning flies in the face of
American political correctness: “Do
not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I
have come to bring not peace but the sword.”
There
is a current in our society that thinks, “If we all set aside our differences,
we could just get along.” This is
not only naïve, but foolish! Today
the greatest proof against such a worldview—ISIS. In pockets of the Middle East, believing differently could
cost your head!
You
see, this peace-at-all-costs mindset comes from the philosophy of relativism—believing
that you have your truth, and I have my truth, and as long as we don’t get in
the way of each other, we can all live happily ever after. The problem is, not everyone shares
this worldview! In fact, such a
position cannot account for someone who believes differently—after all, what is
true for you is true for you! In this regard, we Catholics find a
middle ground between a naïve “let’s all just get along” attitude and extremist
terrorism.
One
other point—the sword. One
interpretation comes from a comparison in Hebrews—the Word of God is a
sword. The Word of God cuts—sets apart. It draws a line in the sand for those
who believe in Jesus as “the way, the
truth and the life” and those who do not. Thus, “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.” Jesus is
saying he must come first. We must
cross that line and put Christ before even those we love.
Passages
like this one may be easy to skip because they are completely
counter-cultural. But remember—this
is Jesus who is speaking! Jesus,
the way, truth and a life. Let’s
be on his side today.
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