23rd December, 2007 [The Greatest Legacy]
Matthew 10¡§34-39

1. .Jesus came with a sword

During these recent weeks before Christmas, we have continued to learn from the Old Testament. What it teaches us is that human history is full of sin, bad human conduct and disloyalty to God our Creator. The Old Testament revealed humans to be egoistical. They participated in false worship, focussing on themselves, rather than God. They exploited others, even though they were all from the same source of God’s creation. From our view of history, we see a flawed people whose erratic behavior generated conflicts and wars.

The prophet Isaiah indicated that this wayward living is an inherent part of human nature, which we can’t change by ourselves: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). Humans are under the yoke of sin, which no teaching or punishment could put right, apart from one event, and that is the arrival of the Messiah. Only the Messiah can free humans from their belligerent nature, “Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire” ( Isaiah 9:5).

And Luke says the very Messiah has already come: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2: 14). But Matthew revealed to us one rather unexpected facet of the messianic arrival: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” ( Matthew 10:34).

Today, let us contemplate the meaning of Christmas by reading Matthew, chapter 10:34, a somewhat confusing and difficult passage to decipher. Why did Jesus make such a statement, which is seemingly contradictory to Isaiah’s words ? Because Jesus’ notion of peace is different from what we think. Peace for us is a ’state without conflict’, even if its due to the domination of a super power which doesn’t allow any objections.

At the time of Jesus the Roman Empire enjoyed a ‘Pax Romana’ which was established by its powerful armed
forces, just like today’s ‘Pax Americana’. However this kind of peace will decline when the dominant supremacy weakens. In other words such a superficial peace, as this, is fragile and not real. Because the absence of conflict is only maintained while strong controls function to oppress dissent.

The secular social happiness is for the majority, therefore the minority groups are forced to keep silent. But the Bible teaches us that there is another peace, the peace in which the weakest social groups, like widows, orphans or aliens, can be happy. Thus this passage of Exodus compels us: “Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. “Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry” ( Exodus 22:21-23).

The background to these verses gives us a snap-shot of the human situation some 2500 years ago. But, today’s society is not far from it. Very often divorced single mothers are prevented from gaining suitable employment. And orphans in today’s Japan are also among those who face discrimination and cannot obtain suitable or stable working conditions.

And a lot of aliens working here are actually exploited with low payments for their labor If they begin to seek better conditions of life, it might cause conflict between the exploiters and themselves. Therefore Christ comes with a sword in order to rectify a faulty peace, and to bring real peace, founded on righteousness: “For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” (Matthew 10:35-36).
Jesus cut up the hypocritical facade with the reality of a sharp blade.

2. When the false peace is broken the real peace arrives

The statement concerning peace was given in the context of when Jesus sent the disciples into different regions to spread His teachings. And before their departure Jesus gave them some advice: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

It means that in the world, where material forces dominate the way of life, seeking righteousness will depend upon the terms of agreement, and conflict with others. This fact was actually experienced by the first generation of His believers, and many of them were persecuted, and killed. Still Jesus encourages them to endure: “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” ( Matthew 10:22). And further, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

When we choose to live the life of a Christian, our families might disagree with our decision, or even oppose us in some way, which was also the case with Jesus: “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:21). Jesus blamed the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who accused others because they considered their empty faith based on respecting commandments as being right. But Jesus’ words were too provocative for the social hierarchy of that time.

However Jesus compels us to follow Him irrespective of how a family may react to our decision: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).

3. To reach to the true life through giving up the earthy one.

Now let’s read today’s invocation verses together, Luke 18¡§29-30. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”

Jesus is now, after preaching in Galilee, on the road to Jerusalem. His followers are sure that He will become the king by defeating the Roman occupation forces since the Messiah is, for the Jewish people, the liberator of Israel from foreign domination. But Jesus knows what is waiting for him in Jerusalem, the Cross, and those who stay faithful to Him would be arrested and punished. Therefor He tells them: “and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” ( Matthew10:38).

In actual fact, at the moment of His arrest, all of the disciples ran away. But after that, a lot of them returned to the faith, and some were even martyred because of that. Furthermore many of those who witnessed the execution of martyrs converted to Christianity, the phenomenon which founded the Church and spread Christanity. Now, even in our time, here at Shinozaki, in Tokyo, Japan, our church is established.

Jesus’ family who formerly opposed His activity found God through Him after all, as Luke describes: “When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1:13-14).

The Bible sometime presents us with a real oxymoron. For example, we can become a real family of salvation, only by abandoning the family, so the same thing applies with our life, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” ( Matthew 10:39).

At this point in time I want to draw attention to the title of today’s speech, “The Greatest Legacy”. It is also the title of a book written by Kanzo Uchimura, a Christian of the Meiji period (1868 -1912). The following text was taken from one of his lectures.

Uchimura presents his wish to bestow before his death something worthy to the beautiful earth, country, nature and society. “So what can I do?” He wondered. Big Money? Appreciable engineering constructions? Great thinking? Higher education for a future generation? All are useful to make this world a better place. But, he came to believe that he did not have enough talents to achieve such special works.
Yet he found his answer: a brave and respectable way of living, a legacy which ordinary human beings can realize, and become role models for others. And he explains his ideal life : “The brave and respectable life signifies to live in believing that the world is ruled by God not by Satan, filled with hopes not with deceptions, of joy not of grief. If we live in this way and show it to others that might be our lifelong-gift to the future world.”

Jesus came to earth, not to make us happy here, but to lead and show us how to live a brave and respectable life. What can it be for example? Jesus gives the answer, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward” ( Matthew 10:42). So, this Christmas, let us all begin to live our lives, not only for ourselves but for others too.

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