"Peace is a central theme of Scripture"

Today's gospel holds a few oft-quoted and difficult nuggets. This text is a continuation of last week’s gospel when Jesus commissions the twelve to go out and "proclaim the good news ... Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons" (Matt. 10:7-8). Oh, and don’t take any money or provisions with you and you’ll be walking into really hard places but it's ok because the Spirit is with you each step along the way. In today>s reading, Jesus continues painting a pretty bleak picture about what discipleship will look like. In today's reading he says, “They call me Satan - just imagine what they'll call you!”

And then we get to this gem: "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." Oof. My daughter actually used the part about Jesus bringing a sword for her confirmation statement of faith. She's a fencer and she had a lot of fun with what a sword means for her. I, however, am not a fencer and don’t think that I can get away with that interpretation.

According to several sources, "peace" is mentioned more than 400 times in the Bible¹. But it doesn't mean the same thing every time. You'll remember that Jesus greets his disciples when they're hiding and terrified after the crucifixion with "Peace be with you" (John 20:19; Luke 24:36). This "peace" means shalom conveying a blessing that springs forth all other blessing. The peace that Jesus talks about in today's gospel is not a shalom kind of peace. Luke’s version of today's gospel softens the language a little to have Jesus say, "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you but rather division" (Luke 12:51). Jesus is telling the apostles that this mission work is agitating. It doesn't roll over and let empire do its thing. It actively interrupts system of injustice. It demands accountability. It severs unhealthy relationships. And it insists on love over every other competing interest.

I don't know about you, but when I hear that following Jesus means my family will turn against itself, it's alarming. And yet, we are in a time when we need no imagination to see how this looks in real life. We are already living in a time when following the peace of Christ - as exemplified by Jesus's insistence on solidarity and compassion for the poor and oppressed to the point of crucifixion - is divisive within families. Fourth of July is going to be interesting this year, isn't it? Anyone else dreading conversations that might happen around America's 250th birthday?

And then I think about all of the harm caused to LGBTQ+ beloveds, many with Bible verses weaponized to wound, maim, and otherwise degrade the dignity of children of God. It's not hard to recognize Jesus's prediction that parents will turn against their children and families will be broken by the courageous demand that everyone matters and that everyone is loved by God. According to statistics cited by the National Coalition for the Homeless, "LGBTQ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth"², and the Trevor Project reports that homeless LGBTQ youth largely either ran away from home for fear of being mistreated or were kicked out of their homes or abandoned because of their LGBTQ identity³. Throughout the arc of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection, Jesus insists that each one of those kids is seen by God. Every one of those kids is held with love and tender care by God. Every one of those kids were rejected by their families because of the way they were created in the image of God. There is no peace there. None.

And we, as a Church, are called to be agitators in the face of injustice. There is nothing about the gospel today that condones complicity with oppression.

Jesus's instructions to his apostles, the first church leaders, is to be allegiant only to God, no matter how uncomfortable it gets and no matter if relationships break because of it. As much as it may feel disturbing, there are times when we as a Church need to take the sword out of its sheath and use it.

Each week we pray for the Church in some form during the Prayers of Intercession. Praying for "peace for the Church" has been one of the most repeated liturgical prayers since the time of Constantine. But Jon Sobrino in his book, No Salvation Outside the Poor writes, "we must take great care not to make such peace the basic criterion of how well Christianity is doing ...To be sure, we must work for peace and rejoice in it, but we must ... remember that without justice - which is central in the construction of the kingdom - there can be no peace"⁴. Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was assassinated in 1980 for his outspokenness against a vicious and cruel system of governmental oppression, said, "A Church that does not suffer persecution should fear for itself. It is not the true Church of Jesus Christ"⁵. Let me read that again. "A Church that does not suffer persecution should fear for itself." A Church that is not reviled by power mongers, fascists, and money-driven interests, ought to look closely at itself and figure out where it turned away from the mission that Jesus gives his apostles. A Church that pledges its allegiance to legacy over the embodied needs of the poor, the marginalized, and the persecuted populations of our day such as trans youth, immigrants, people living with disabilities and mental illness, the houseless - the list could go on - is not an authentic Jesus-following church. A Church that is "peaceful' perhaps isn't Jesus's Church. This is a very hard pill to swallow for those of us who like to be liked, isn't it?

Well friends, I'm happy to report that there are plenty of powerful people who really can't stand the ELCA. A few examples of why: The federal government launched unsubstantiated accusations of corruption against Lutheran Social Services in Nebraska to silence them and LSS is fighting back. Hard. ELCA Churchwide and many of its synods filed a lawsuit against the federal government opposing immigration raids at houses of worship⁶. ICE agents aren't fans of ELCA pastors, as so many have interrupted operations, protested at federal buildings, and personally accompanied immigrants to hearings. ELCA Churchwide Advocacy is actively working to oppose gerrymandering, oppose legislation that cuts food assistance, support war powers resolutions that reign in unfettered power, and support an end to Palestinian persecution 7. More intimately, we all know people who left ELCA churches when they became Reconciling in Christ, unable to or unwilling to fully love LGBTQ children of God. We all know churches where community was broken, cut in two by that sword of justice, by the refusals to accept compliance with LGBTQ-exclusion as "peace". I believe we are part of a Church that seeks the peace of shalom not the shallow peace of conflict avoidance.

Liberation doesn't come through complacence. And the kin-dom of God can't be realized without fighting for, with, and as the persecuted. If the systems of oppression are not furious by our efforts to thwart them - nonviolently and with integrity - then perhaps we need to take a closer look at how we live out this mission that Jesus commends to his apostles in today's gospel. This mission that may not be peaceful but yet ushers in a shalom only possible through Christ Jesus. Peace and persecution cannot co-exist. So I ask you: Are you persecuted at all? If not, why not? If not you, then who? And who or what can you agitate to bring true peace, the shalom of the kin-dom of God, to all of God's beloveds?

 Peace is a central theme of Scripture

Amen

¹ Felix Just, S. J. "Peace in the New Testament." Catholic-resources.org. Accessed June 20, 2026.

https://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Peace.htm.

2 National Coalition for the Homeless - Building a movement to End Homelessness. "LGBTQ Homelessness - National Coalition for the Homeless." National Coalition for the Homeless, December 28, 2022. https:/ / nationalhomeless.org/lgbtq-homelessness/.

3 The Trevor Project. "Homelessness and Housing Instability among LGBTQ Youth," February 3, 2022. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ research-briefs/homelessness-and-housing-instability-among-lgbtq-yo uth-feb-2022/.

4 Sobrino, Jon. No Salvation Outside the Poor: Prophetic-Utopian Essays. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008.94

5 Ibid

⁶ Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "In the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Central Division." Democracyforward.org. Accessed June 20, 2026.

https:/ / democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/ 07/ I-Complaint. pdf.

⁷ Advocacy, Elca. "ELCA Advocacy." ELCA Advocacy, May 28, 2026.

https:/ /blogs.elca.org/advocacy/ may-update-advocacy-connections-2026/.