The Nugget:
Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
My Comment:
Here it is Christmas Eve! Now just what could be the connection of Matthew 10:34 with Christmas?
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter 2 we find the account of many events that surrounded the birth of Christ, including the witness of an elderly man named Simeon. He prophesied of a number of things to come that would affect Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Jesus Himself. Among the things Simeon said was this:
Luk 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
A careful reading and study of the Gospel record will show that our Lord Jesus Christ was resisted by many during His ministry. His miracles upset the religious leaders, and so did His teaching. The Scribes and Pharisees set about to murder Jesus, they were so upset. This surely fulfilled the divinely inspired prediction given by Simeon, a prediction that reveals a very dark side to the wonderful Christmas story, a dark side frequently seen throughout the New Testament account of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even the family of Jesus did not believe in Him (John 7:5). Even Mary the mother of Jesus was involved in a plot to capture Jesus and turn Him over to the religious authorities, as described in the Gospel of Mark, Mark 3:31 and context and associated cross references.
Briefly addressing Matthew 10:34, when Jesus said “I came not to bring peace, but a sword” He used a Figure of Speech for emphasis. What Jesus said means that the object of His coming was peace, but the effect of His coming was war.
One of the great wonders of the Christmas season are the many Bible prophecies that were fulfilled by the first coming of Jesus Christ. These fulfilled prophecies prove Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. I believe these prophecies demonstrate the divine inspiration of the Bible, the only Book in the world that contains detailed and specific predictions of events ahead of time, events which have been fulfilled in history.
A reader here posted a very interesting question about what I have written above. Here is the question and my answer:
The Question:
Mr. Smith, I have read this paragraph over and over again…
“Even the family of Jesus did not believe in Him (John 7:5). Even Mary the mother of Jesus was involved in a plot to capture Jesus and turn Him over to the religious authorities, as described in the Gospel of Mark, Mark 3:31 and context and associated cross references.”
I do not understand it because the way I am reading this is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, turned on him if she was involved in a plot. I have read the context and all the cross references but still do not see it.
Thanks
My Answer:
I will address this as soon as I can. I have been in bed and have not used this computer for a few days. I do have the answer to your question.
You should be able to post at the Real Bible Study site by writing a comment in the comment box below the article. If what you write does not post immediately, that may mean that I need to approve the post. But it seems to me you may have posted there before, but maybe not. There are no comments awaiting my approval there just now as I just checked it.
I was very shocked when I learned about Mary’s inadvertent opposition to her son when I first noted it, but it is quite clearly stated in the Gospel of Mark.
THE ANSWER is found in the reference given for the keywords “standing without,” and the note I placed there from the Companion Bible, “That they might more easily seize Him (Mark 3:21) [CB].”
21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” English Standard Version
The following verse (Mark 3:22) shows that the scribes were claiming Jesus was demon possessed, “and Jesus cast out demons by the prince of demons.
See earlier in the context (Mark 3:6) how the Pharisees and Herodians took counsel against him, how to destroy him.
All this ties in with the sinister theme mentioned in Mark 3:2, “And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.” See also Luke 20:20, where it is clear that the religious authorities sent spies to try to trap Jesus in His words. Consult the cross references at Mark 3:2 and I think you will see more clearly what was consistently going on behind the scenes.
Of course, the plot has a final good outcome, for we read that Mary and her sons were at the prayer meeting in Acts, and at this point, His brothers now believed in Him. This is evident from the UCRT cross references given at Mark 3:31 for the keywords “his mother,” especially the reference to Acts 1:14.
I hope this will clarify the details for you.
Here is a further discussion about these incidents I wrote today (1-5-17):
The context of the incident where Jesus was speaking in a crowded house when his mother and her sons, Jesus was told, “seek for thee” must be understood to draw the proper necessary inference about what was going on (Mark 3:31). Notice carefully Mark 3:21, where “his friends” is translated in the KJV margin, kinsmen. The Companion Bible correctly notes, “His brethren and his mother” and gives further reference to Mark 3:31.
I believe Jesus was speaking on the basis of His own experience when he said:
Matthew 10:36
36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
King James Version
We are told explicitly by John in John 7:5, “For neither did his brethren believe in him.”
Why would the brothers of Jesus, the sons of Mary, be urging Jesus to go into Judea, at that moment in history a dangerous place for Jesus to openly be? They were not wishing him well but ill. Even the general public knew that the religious authorities sought to kill Jesus (John 7:25; see also John 7:1, 19, 20).
When Jesus Himself proposed to return to Judea, His disciples (unlike His own brothers) were most concerned because of the extreme danger He would face (John 11:7, 8.),
Joh 11:7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
Joh 11:8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
You can see this dark background plot against Jesus on many pages of the Gospels.
We know by necessary inference that Mary rid herself of this momentary period of unbelief in her Son, but at the time of the event recorded in Mark 3:21 and Mark 3:31 she sided with her sons against Jesus, convinced for the moment that “He is beside himself” (Mark 3:21).
Probably later in the chronology of events John records that the brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him (John 7:5), urging Jesus to work His miracles and present His message in Judea and Jerusalem, where at this time it was generally known it was not a safe place for Jesus to be.
But we do know by necessary inference that the brothers of Jesus were truly converted to strong faith in Him for we see them with Mary in the prayer meeting of the early church as recorded in Acts 1:14. We know that James wrote the book of James, and Jude wrote the book of Jude. Jude explicitly tells us that he is the brother of James in Jude 1:1.