Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
Jesus came to bring a sword because the he brought "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (see Ephesians 6:17), which is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (see Hebrews 4:12). The words of Jesus were so sharp because they were in no way compromised with falsehood or sin. His words were divisive because Jesus, who was himself the truth, inescapably prompted those who encountered him to make a decision about him. They could choose him or choose instead to put some other lesser good ahead of him, but there was no way to escape the choice. Even hesitating or not responding in the face of the urgency of his kingdom were in fact choices of a sort as well.
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;
After all, God first loved us with a greater love than that of parent for child or child for parent. He said, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you" (see Isaiah 49:15). Merely natural relationships were good, but less good than our relationship with God himself. To love anyone more than Jesus, God himself, was to love them in a way that did not sufficiently regard the fact that Jesus himself was meant to be their last end and greatest good. Loving father or mother, son or daughter, in this light, willing for them only temporary and lesser goods, would not only be a disservice to God, but also to the relatives whom we imagined ourselves to prefer. The solution to this conundrum was not meant to be severing ourselves from all of our natural family ties but rather to elevate and spiritualize them by centering them in our faith in Jesus himself. Thus Jesus said:
Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother (see Matthew 12:46-50).
When we are related to others not just by blood but by faith we are able to love them well and do not risk creating a conflict but what we wish for them and the will of God. This was why there was never a conflict between the Blessed Mother and her divine Son. They were united in what they willed, and never insisted on merely natural goods when the salvation of the world was at stake.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Not only must we not prefer the natural goods of others for them, we also must not prefer the lesser goods of this world for ourselves over the path of love revealed by Jesus himself. This path is not abstract or ambiguous because Jesus himself is always at the very center. It is only for his sake that true life can be found.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.
Jesus began our passage with many hard words about how he himself must have our allegiance over any other possible options. He went on to call us to take up our own crosses to follow him on the path of self-emptying love. But it is comforting that he concluded the teaching by showing that what he asked of us was not so difficult as to be impossible or unattainable. To receive the rewards of life we can begin in small ways and seemingly insignificant ways, by welcoming those who are themselves committed to the kingdom. We don't necessarily have to be prophets or perfectly righteous men to receive the rewards promised to them. It is enough to associate ourselves with them by our love. Even little acts, like a cup of cold water for a little one, become disproportionately significant when done for the sake of the kingdom.
A new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
This situation in Egypt can be an analogy for our own in present day. People once knew that goodness that Christendom brought to civilization but now often see it as a negative force that must be resisted and even oppressed. This may mean that we are sometimes called to be more explicit in choosing Jesus over other options than past generations. Let us prepare ourselves in advance to cast our lot with Jesus, with his prophets, righteous men, and little ones. If we choose him we can't lose, at least not anything of truly lasting value.
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