Dear Christian friends:

Does Jesus tell lies? Here in our text, which is the Gospel Lesson that I signed before, Jesus seems to tell a lie. He says that He did not come to bring peace on earth. But the prophet Isaiah called Him "the Prince of Peace." When Jesus was born the angels sang,"Peace on earth to men." There seems to be a contradiction.

How can we explain that? Well, Jesus brings peace on earth to those people who believe in Him and accept Him for their Savior. He brings peace with God because of sins forgiven. Also, between Christians Jesus brings peace because Christians forgive one another. But those people who do not believe in Jesus oppose the Christians. Between believer and unbelievers Jesus brings opposition.

In our text Jesus encourages to follow Him in spite of opposition


Jesus tells His disciples that they should expect various troubles as they follow Him here on earth. (verse 34) Why does this happen? Because the preaching about Jesus implies that people are sinners who deserve God's anger and eternal punishment in hell, and can only be saved by the death of God's Son. The preaching about Jesus and His cross offends man's proud heart and nature. Ted Turner, rich owner of CNN TV network news said, Jesus Christ need not have died on the cross. True, I have sinned some, but I do not need Jesus' blood to wash away my sins. I'm not that bad." Many people think the same as Ted Turner. Jesus‘ cross, His blood shed offends their proud, self-righteous nature. Therefore, they oppose the preaching of Jesus and His followers.

In our text Jesus tells us that this trouble and opposition can also happen in our own families(verses 35-36). True, this opposition does not happen in every family, thank God. Chiefly, Jesus brings love, forgiveness and peace to families. That happens when everyone in the family believes in Jesus and forgives one another and helps one another. But sometimes one or two persons in a family refuse to believe in Jesus. Then conflict may happen in that family. The Christian person or persons should not be surprised when that happens, and they must not feel guilty about the conflict. It is not their fault. If a Christian must suffer trouble because of his faith in Jesus, he should not feel guilty about that. The Christian in such a family should rejoice and thank God that he is counted worthy to suffer for Jesus' sake.

In such a family the Christian person is often tempted to quit following Jesus in order to have peace in the family. But that is a false peace, and the Christian person must not do that. In our text Jesus warns us about that: "A person that loves his father or mother more than Me is not good enough for Me. Any person that loves son or daughter more than Me is not good enough for Me (verse 37). Again Jesus warns: "And he that takes not his cross and follows not Me is not good enough for Me (verse 38). Suffering opposition in our family is a cross we Christians need to carry if that trouble happens in our family.

Perhaps a Christian woman is married to an unbelieving man. What should the Christian wife do in that situation? She should try to help her husband to believe in Jesus and love Jesus like she does. She should pray for her husband to repent. Perhaps the husband does not change and believe in Jesus, but he is good to his wife and does not bother her when she goes to church and serves in her church.

In that situation she should stay with him and love him and continue to pray for him. But if the husband bothers her and complains when she goes to church and won't let her serve and support her church, she may leave him or get a divorce. She should not feel guilty about that. And the other church members should not blame her or think bad things about her. They should help her and give support and comfort her.

It is difficult to follow Jesus when there is opposition, especially when the opposition is in your family.

How do we find strength to follow Jesus in spite of opposition? We find the life that is in Jesus Christ.

In our text Jesus says."He that finds his life will lose it. And he that loses his life for My sake will find it. (verse 39) These are strange words. What does Jesus mean? He means that we should love Him so much that we are willing to suffer for His sake, also be willing to lose our life, die for His sake and the gospels sake.

Jesus was willing to lose His life for our sake. He loves us so much that He was willing to take our place, suffer God's anger and punishment for our sins, the punishment that we deserved. He did this when He suffered and died on the cross.

We love Jesus because He first loved us. We suffer for Jesus sake because He first suffered for our sake. We lose our life for His sake because He first lost His life for our sake.

Jesus also gave us His Word in the Bible which tells of his great love and sacrifice for us, through that Word the Holy Spirit comes to us and gives us faith and hope. Jesus gave us Holy Baptism through which we are born anew and become children of God and His brothers and sisters. Jesus also gave us the Lord's Supper through which He seals to us the forgiveness of sins and strengthens our faith and love.

Let us attend to Jesus Word. Let us daily remember that we have been baptized into God's family and let us come to the Lord's Supper regularly so that we may have the faith and love and strength to follow Jesus in spite of opposition.

Amen.