I didn't come to bring peace but division?

Devotional Thoughts on Luke 12:49-53

Luk 12:49-53 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? (50) But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! (51) Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: (52) For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. (53) The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Why does Christ say He came to bring division? The song that’s been stuck in my head over the last week is U2’s “Peace on Earth”. Bono expresses deep pain and frustration at the fact that there’s so much talk of peace on earth, “but hope and history won’t rhyme” and there’s still no peace. Bono involves Jesus in his struggle, praying, “Jesus won’t you take the time, to throw a drowning man a line, peace on earth”.

I prayed through the sevenfold unity of Christianity in Ephesians 4:4-6 this morning. All Christians worldwide are united by I. The Belief in One Triune God – 1) The Father, 2) Son and 3) Holy Spirit; as well as II. A Common Salvation – entered into 4) by one faith, made visible 5) by one baptism into 6) one body of Christ sharing 7) one hope. And yet Christ came to divide families against each other. How can this be?

Bono is wrong to blame Jesus for the world’s current turmoil. It was never Jesus’ intention to bring “peace on earth”; at least not in this age. In our current age, Jesus came to bring division, i.e. the division due to the unity of the body of Christ; the turmoil due to the peace one can now make with God; the conflict brought about by the reconciliation available in Christ. Jesus came to bring the truth, and the truth divides those who believe and put their trust in it from those who reject it.

O that the body of Christ would be more unified! We Protestants put the “protest” in Protestantism. The division that Christ brings is not meant to be within the body of Christ (cf. John 17:20-23), but between the body of Christ and the world.

The peace that Bono and so many of us long for can only be brought about by a new world order initiated by none other than Christ Himself. “Peace on earth” will only come after every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord once He returns (cf. Philippians 2:9-11), even as the Prophet declared long ago:

“His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6-7