Question on PEACE

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheHem
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

TheHem

Guest
Our gospel(Matt 10:34)reading yesterday mentions peace.
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword…

As I listened to this I thought of what Jesus said in John 14
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give toyou; not as the world gives do I give to you…”

I understand that scripture does not contradict itself though it may seem that way to some.

Any thoughts on these passages.
 
The peace that Jesus is talking about in Matthew 10 is a false peace, ie, everything’s alright, you don’t have to do anything, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Jesus knew His miinistry and truth would cause division and hardship. He knew that The Way would be difficult, but once we have traversed this Way, then true peace, what you read in John will be our reward.

newadvent.org/bible/mat010.htm
 
This is what the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website’s Bible (NAB) states that the word “peace” as you quoted it in John 14 means:

not “the traditional Hebrew salutation salom; but Jesus’ “Shalom” is a gift of salvation, connoting the bounty of messianic blessing.” That was what the footnote stated.

So, in John we see Jesus speaking of his peace as in His gift of salvation.

In Matthew, he also speaks the truth without contradiction. Jesus did not bring peace as in the peace we normally think of - no war, serenity, calm…

Read on to Matthew 10:35 :For I have come to set a man 'against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; …

Does this sound calm and serene to you? In order to obtain the unique peace that the world cannot give us, as he speaks of in John 14, we may have to be set against our own earthly families.

I guess he is saying that he isn’t bringing the peace that we traditionally think of but a new and infinitely better peace, though we may have to fight for it, even against our own father or mother. We’ve even seen it on these threads, parents disowning children due to their conversion to Catholicism.

Just my thoughts.🤷
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top