Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts,
no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.
Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.
As you enter the house, greet it.
If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.
Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues;
and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.
When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time;
for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;
and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;
it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.
What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
And even the hairs of your head are all counted.
So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;
but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
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.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;
and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
This is the Patristics text that appears when you select Patristics.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth! I have not come to bring peace, but the sword” (Mt 10:34). This, then, is what the Lord said.
Understand it as if He had said:
“I have not come to reconcile truth with lies, wisdom with foolishness, good with evil, justice with violence, humanity with brutality, purity with debauchery, God with Mammon—but I have brought the sword to separate one from the other, so that they do not mingle.”
With what do You separate them, Lord? With the sword of truth. Or with the sword of the Word of God, which is the same. For truth is the Word of God, and the Word of God is truth. The Apostle Paul advises: Take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph 6:17). And the holy John, in his vision of the Son of Man, saw “in the midst of the seven lampstands one like a Son of Man, and from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword” (Rev 1:13–16). This sword that comes forth from the mouth—what can it be but the Word of God, the Word of truth? This sword Jesus Christ brought to the earth.
This sword brings salvation to the world—not peace between good and evil.
Then as now, always and forever.
That this is the correct interpretation is shown also by Christ’s following words: “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” (Mt 10:35). Indeed, if the son follows Christ while the father remains in the darkness of lies, the sword of Christ’s truth will separate them. Truth is more to be loved than the father. And if the daughter follows Christ while her mother remains in denial of Him, what communion could still exist between the two? Is not Christ sweeter than the mother? The same applies to the daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law.
But take care not to misunderstand this, as if the one who has come to know Christ and loves Him must immediately separate outwardly from his unbelieving relatives. Such a thing is not written. It is enough if he is inwardly separated from them in his soul, and accepts nothing in his soul from their unbelieving thoughts and deeds. For if believers were to separate outwardly at once from unbelievers, there would arise in the world two opposing camps. Who then would teach and correct the unbelievers? Even the Lord Himself endured the unbelieving Judas at His side for three full years. The wise Paul writes: “The unbelieving husband is made holy through his [believing] wife, and likewise the unbelieving wife through the [believing] husband” (1 Cor 7:14).
Finally, let me also share with you how the glorious Theophylact of Ohrid interprets these words of Christ spiritually: “By the father, mother, and mother-in-law, understand all the old things; by the son and daughter, all the new. The Lord therefore wills that His new divine commandments and teachings should overcome all our old sinful habits and customs.”
The words about the sword that He brings upon the earth thus refer entirely to Christ Himself, the Peacemaker and Giver of peace. Christ brings His heavenly peace, like a heavenly balm, and gives it to those who truly believe in Him. But He has not come to make peace between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. (Letter 9)
