Matthew 10:34

Book of Matthew, chapter 10, verse 34: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

The first time I read this verse I was taken aback. I read it after a long weekend of philosophical discussions with friends and family, around the value embedded in religious sentiment and recorded text in establishing a framework for difficult decisions. On that Saturday night I'd spoken with three good friends, on a dimly lit porch, into the wee hours of the night, about the merits of living with a significant other prior to engagement and marriage. Is that a good decision or a bad one? Or more precisely, is it wise or not? This conversation came just 12 hours after I'd had a similar philosophical discussion with my parents that morning about the ideas Sam Harris puts forth in his analysis of religion (as a whole), claiming it to be a mobilizing force in creating conflict and division, instead of progress and wisdom. 

The underlying thread throughout both discussions was, "What is religious wisdom or knowledge? Where does it come from and how did it come to be? How seriously should we heed the rules, guidelines and suggestions in religious texts when we face difficult decisions?"

I'm currently on episode 7 of Jordan Peterson's 15 part Biblical Series. In the series he analyzes the psychological significance of the Biblical Stories in the Old Testament. So far I've learned about the Creation of Man in the Garden of Eden, the story of Cain and Abel, and the story of Noah's Ark/The Flood. For one thing, there's far more to be unpacked in these stories than I initially understood. Peterson does it brilliantly. For another thing, the 13 hours spent watching so far have given me a better mental model with which to analyze other pieces of Biblical text, so I will try my hand at this one.

There are multiple interpretations of this piece of text, from what I've read. Being that the Bible is at least 2000 years old, I'm not the first to come across this line and wonder what exactly it means. The most popular of the interpretations have suggested, uncreatively, that this is a call to War, that this is one of the lines in which Jesus pronounces that those who are not Christians are enemies. This is a deeply unintellectual argument. If that was the case, why then in 95% of the other quoted sections of Jesus does good will, sovereignty and coexistence dominate? The second most popular interpretation I read gets more creative and in my estimation analyzes the text partially right, but still misses the mark. This particular interpretation suggests that the "Sword" is the representation of division, that the words and actions of someone claiming to be the Son of God, would bring to the world. This is not untrue. In fact, Jesus and his life brought so much division that he was killed by society. Christianity purports to know the truth and the way, Jesus himself said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." Anyone who is willing to stand there and say such a statement about such a topic, is bound to be divisive. 

But, to me this is still an incomplete interpretation. I believe in this quote, Jesus is saying that his message and his teachings will not bring peace because humans are flawed and rarely act in the best interest of themselves and others in a purely peaceful manner. Instead, Christ's message, his teachings, in essence, Christianity, is a sword, which can be wielded by each individual, for which they can defend against the tyranny of life, against the suffering of existence, and perhaps yes, against evil in the world. To paraphrase Dr. Peterson when analyzing Pinocchio, morality and wisdom is sword used to slay the dragon and save your father from the belly of the whale. In other words, "no one comes to the Father, except through me," where "me" is the adoption of moral principles and a mode of being based on the exemplar of Christian principles, Christ. 

In the original language of the bible, the term used for "Sword" in this passage is the same term used in the book of Hebrews to depict scripture's ability to separate truth and error (Hebrews 4:12). To me, this is the foundation of the correct and most comprehensive interpretation of the text. Life is challenging. It is full of strife and struggle. It has the potential for evil. We need a tool, so to speak, to separate truth from error, otherwise we live in error, which is no way to live. 

When Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they "open their eyes" and are sprung into consciousness, the distinction between humans and animals, which had to have happened at some point since we acknowledge that we are indeed conscious beings. Immediately they clothe themselves which correctly represents humans understanding their vulnerability in the world. God finds the pair hiding, which is what people do from the harshness of reality. He then tells them they will painfully toil in order to obtain food, which is exactly what we do all days of life, we work to maintain safety, stability, and to keep food on the table for our loved ones. The point in all this is that it's exactly the story of humans becoming conscious of their finitude, their struggle and the demands conscious life places on us to just simply survive another day. Secondly, why the tree of Good and Evil? Simple answer, when an animal kills another animal we do not say it is evil. But when a human kills another human, it is a conscious choice and therefore it is different. That distinction could be considered to be evil, since it is the opposite of the thing which we consider to be good, which is not killing. The "knowledge" of good and evil is what you obtain when you become conscious, because you become aware not just of the presence of good and evil but also of the fact that you yourself could act good or evil. 

Christianity; the Ten Commandments, the stories of the Bible, the calls for charity, temperance, prudence, humility, courage, justice and fortitude - this is the Sword. The careful adherence to a mode of being that best optimizes life for you, your family, your society, and humanity is how you can separate truth from error. Error is sin. Its when you don't live up to that mode of being. That ideal. The sword arms you with the way, the truth, the life that will allow you to live up to that ideal. To slay dragons. To protect loved ones. To cut through the noise and the confusion. 

In a single sentence, in this section of the Book of Matthew, we are reminded that there is immense wisdom in the history of humanity, encoded in text and story. Ways of living rightly and wrongly were distilled over tens of thousands of years, resulting in a textbook of sorts - with guidelines, metaphors, stories, and anecdotes. Perhaps we should resist the self-assured hubris of the present landscape and remind ourselves that we are not the first to approach many of life's challenges, wondering what the solutions are or what the best path may be. Perhaps we should turn to the guidance of the ideal, to see what is suggested to be right or wrong, and meditate on how that suggestion may have come to be. The implication of Jesus's quote, "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword," implies that the sword is the way to peace. The scripture's ability to separate truth and error is the way to bring peace. We should wield the Sword, despite it's heavy weight and it's capacity for danger if wielded incorrectly. In doing so, we may find that we are equipped to answer life's omnipresent challenges, because we are armed with a durable, shining, pointed sword.