NOTES for Mat 10:32-36

How are we to understand Jesus’ words about members of one’s household becoming enemies? We can, of course, see in them a reference to the fairly ordinary conflict within a family, when people living under one roof differ so greatly in their views and outlook that they become ideological enemies. But there would be nothing special or unusual in that; it has happened in every age and for all kinds of reasons. Yet Jesus’ words evidently acquire their meaning only in the context of everything He said about the Kingdom. Here it is no longer a matter of differences in outlook or ideas, but of something far more serious. Indeed, what can be expected if one tries to unite under one roof life according to the laws of the Kingdom and life according to the laws of this world? Clearly, nothing but conflict, and a conflict that is virtually insoluble. When ideological or philosophical differences are at issue, one can still seek possibilities for compromise, mutual concessions and, ultimately, mutual acceptance. But the Kingdom is utterly incompatible with the world lying in evil, and no other bonds or relationships, not even bonds of blood, can save the situation. More than that, bonds of blood can become the main problem in this case, for they are probably the strongest natural bond possible in human relationships. Yet their nature remains part of the untransformed world; in its untransformed state it does not bring those bound by it closer to the Kingdom but, on the contrary, only takes them farther away. Paradoxically, open conflict and even a rupture may in this case prove more spiritually beneficial than an ambiguous peace full of things left unsaid and fraught with daily, smouldering conflicts. Only when everyone living under one roof has made the Kingdom their chief aim can the situation change radically and family bonds become part of the relationships of the Kingdom. But those bonds will then be founded not on blood kinship but on spiritual kinship.