Jesus' Sword

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." 

– Jesus, Matthew [10:34]

This statement from Jesus appears early in the Gospel narrative and when we encounter the verse without any context, it can leave us with a lot of questions or even some dangerous assumptions. Is Jesus contradicting Himself? Did Matthew just insert some false statement for Jesus? If Jesus didn't come to bring peace, why should we? Are we supposed to reject peace? Jesus says he isn't here to bring peace, but wasn't Jesus supposed to be the Prince of Peace? If Jesus comes bearing a sword, then maybe we need to enter every situation brandishing a weapon, letting everyone know we are not here to bring peace either.  

It may sound silly, but this is the logical conclusions many make when verses like Matthew [10:34] are used in this way. When we get down to the context we will discover some very interesting details that get over looked when this verse is thrown around to simply counter an argument for peace or justify invasions from the United States' military into other countries. 

Context from the Gospel of Matthew 

We encounter this statement from Jesus around the middle of the many, many stories of His healings. Before and after this point we see Jesus tell the people that He healed and the witnesses around them not to tell anyone what has happened—not once, but several times.  

In the last half of Matthew Chapter 9, we start to see some recurring themes that help us understand what is going on with Jesus' statement in chapter 10. As Jesus is traveling, he's healing all manner of sick and dying people. But as we get about halfway through the ninth chapter, we see what looks like the first time Jesus heals someone that is blind. 

In Verse 27 – 31 Matthew tells us,

?"Two men who were blind followed (Jesus), crying out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David! And after He entered the house, the men who were blind came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They *said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes, saying, "It shall be done for you according to your faith." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows about this!" 31?But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout that land."