Vicar Karla Leitzman
I really love a Ken Burns documentary, all of them, really. My favorite is his civil war series, though. I think it is absolutely incredible, and I have watched it so many times. In the second episode of the series, there is a feature on two brothers that has always stuck with me. Prominent Kentucky politician, John Crittenden, who actually happened to be an ardent supporter of the Union, had two sons- George and Thomas. George signed up with the Confederates and Thomas with the Union Army. George was a West Point graduate, like many Confederate soldiers, who resigned from the U.S. Army to become a Major General in the Confederate forces. He led troops at the Battle of Mill Springs but faced severe criticism and a court-martial after rumors circulated that he had been intoxicated during the engagement. His brother, Thomas, remained loyal to the Union and rose to the rank of Major General. He led forces through major conflicts including the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Stones River, and the Battle of Chickamauga.
We hear about how the American Civil War was the brothers’ war. Families living in border states like Maryland and Virginia especially had people who enlisted on both sides of the conflict. Any cursory study of the American Civil War will highlight the strife that was present in countless families who were wrenched apart by this bloody and horrific war. This nation tore itself apart. One battle after another waged, many with casualty numbers above 30%, desecrated land and people, all over the belief that a human being could own another human being. And so, since I naturally have recently rewatched the Ken Burns Civil War series yet again, I found myself thinking about the nature of the ripping apart of families, communities, and so many parts of this country, and the way we continue to live in a time of deep, deep divisions.
In light of that, and really as it is by itself, Jesus’ message today feels foreboding. He says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” But wait a minute, didn’t Jesus come to bring peace? Didn’t Jesus say, in the very same book today’s gospel message comes from, “blessed are the peace makers?” So at face value, the Jesus of today’s gospel reading feels stark and just downright uncomfortable.
I want to note that this passage has been used to cause untold harm throughout the history of Christianity. This passage has been used to force conversions to Christianity, it has been used by pastors who tell families that following Jesus means ostracizing their LGBTQ+ children, even if it means tearing families apart. It has been used to tell people that their suffering comes from God to teach lessons and on and on and on. So, where in the world is the word of hope? Why is Jesus saying this to his disciples?
Essentially since Easter, I have found myself thinking a lot about Jesus’ disciples, who they were, their motivations, their lives, what they would have been feeling while they were traveling around with Jesus, how they would have felt after Jesus’ death and resurrection. What it would have felt like for them to leave behind their homes, their families, to follow this man from a backwater town in Galilee that no one had heard of. This ragtag group of fishermen, carpenters, tax collectors, learners, sinners, and saints, all of them. It would appear that they did not really sign up to be teachers or preachers themselves. They left home to follow Jesus to amplify his teachings and lessons, not necessarily to do it themselves. But, Jesus knows that the day is going to come when he will no longer be with them, and they will be the ones left to continue his ministry. And so today’s gospel lesson is Jesus giving them the very stark reality of just what following him looks like in first century Rome. We see instances throughout all four gospels where Jesus gives “pep talks” so to speak to motivate his friends for what they will be called to do. He reminds them that he is with them, that they are loved. And today, we get an important dose of reality: truly following Jesus comes at the expense of holding tightly to the values of the world and the Empire.
Throughout Lent and Easter, I spoke a lot from this pulpit about how different Jesus was from what people wanted in a Messiah. They yearned for a military leader who would lift them from the tyranny of Rome. They yearned for revenge and for a return of God killing the first borns of Egypt. And what they got was something very different, and that difference got Jesus killed. Jesus comes with a ministry and a message that is so completely antithesis to the time and place he came to, and the same remains true today.
Jesus does not say blessed are the peace keepers but blesses are the peace makers in the book of Matthew. Because, peace making and peace keeping are two very different things. The work of making peace, of striving and fighting for it, is not simply working for the status quo and to not ruffle feathers. Especially as Minnesotans with our Minnesota niceness, we often practice conflict avoidance because it just feels really uncomfortable. And Jesus reminds us that sharing God’s love, grace, mercy, and justice is so much more important than anything we might do to cling to a status quo. And, it just might mean being at odds with the people who advocate for the opposite of those things. I find myself reflecting a lot on the irony that when we really dig into Scripture to learn who Jesus was, who Jesus is, and what that means about who God is, that standing up for that is very counter cultural to what the world we live in advocates. And perhaps the greatest irony I identify with is that we find ourselves in a time and space where truly being disciples of Christ puts us at odds with others who call themselves followers of Christ. We are seeing an alarming rise in the image of a Jesus who has been manufactured to value wealth, ruggedness, rigidity, harshness. And yet, when we really look at Scripture, we instead find a Jesus who values softness, righteousness, and love above all else.
Let us hold fast to that Jesus in our discipleship. Amen.