Following Jesus Gets You in Trouble
- davidwperk
- Oct 16
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, October 16, 2025
Proper 23, the week of the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins,Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
34‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For 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; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 986)
AM Psalm 18:1-20; PM Psalm 18:21-50
Jer. 38:1-13; 1 Cor. 14:26-33a,37-40; Matt. 10:34-42
Today we celebrate the Feast of Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
If we are devoted to bringing the teaching of Jesus to bear in our lives and our parent, sibling, spouse, or close friend is not, division and misunderstanding will result. Jesus’ coming will have wrought strife between us and those persons unless we are willing to accommodate and compromise our core values and Christian commitment. As Jesus says, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Obviously, Jesus spoke in other places of the intent of his coming as salvation and peace. How does a reader square today’s Gospel with the words of the angels in Luke 2 singing of Jesus’ birth, “Peace on earth among those with whom God is pleased.” How do we square today’s Gospel with Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem in Luke, “Would that you knew the things that make for peace, but they are hidden from your eyes.”
Could it be that Jesus speaks here not of what he intends but of one inevitable outcome of his coming? Those not responding with commitment find themselves outside the believing community and at odds with those who do believe. Jesus’ coming does not create peace in that sense; rather, it creates discord. Jesus’ own family thought him mentally ill and sought to take him home by force (Mark 3:20-21, 30-35).
One does not have to be disagreeable, obnoxious, or self-righteous to find themselves in conflict with those not sharing their faith perspective. Jesus was none of these things, and yet his teaching and healing met with fierce resistance and generated conflict. Jesus treated the diseased, dispossessed and marginalized with kindness. He offered fierce opposition to those who undervalued the marginalized and contributed to the oppression of the distressed. His stance obviously would generate push back and misunderstanding from those confronted by his teaching and example. His example and teaching called on his adversaries to repent of their treatment of the marginalized.
Most of us do not enjoy or seek conflict. Some will go to any lengths to avoid it. However, these verses remind us that we cannot avoid conflict at the expense of a genuine commitment to God in Christ. If avoiding conflict and misunderstanding requires that we compromise our uniquely Christian identity and core values; then, we lose our integrity. If avoiding conflict contributes to the marginalization and oppression of the undervalued and wounded, then we have abandoned our love of neighbor to avoid confrontation and have become complicit with those who exclude and exploit the marginalized.
Jesus calls on us to share his place of misunderstanding and rejection in the world in the words “take up the cross and follow me.” We are to love him with a profound desire to be with him and to share his experience in the world. So what if we are misunderstood. So what if we are rejected. So what if we are killed. All that and more happened to him. We are to desire to be with him in his afflictions. He will be with us in ours.
Christian commitment can become tortuous. It takes emotional courage to risk the ill will of those whose love is vital to us. Yet, if we protect ourselves from rejection and misunderstanding by timidity and compromise have we not refused the cross? Is that a choice we want to weave into the fabric of our lives? Is that the legacy we want to bequeath to those other Christians in our relationship network who may be taking their queue from us about how to follow Christ in the world?
Terry Eagleton, in his Terry lectures at Yale, said: "If you don't love you're dead, and if you do love, they'll kill you. . . . . the New Testament is a brutal destroyer of human illusions. If you follow Jesus and don't end up dead, it appears you have some explaining to do.”+
+Terry Eagleton, Reason, Faith, and Revolution (New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2010), p. 27
Collect of the Day, Proper 23, the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, pp. 234-235)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley,, bishops and martyrs, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, martyr. (died 16 Oct 1555; 15 Oct 1555, and 21 Mar 1556 respectively),.
Collect of the Feast of Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer
Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like your servants Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for Protection
O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 124)
For stewardship of creation
O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards
of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 259)
A Prayer for Light
Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 10:34-42
34‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For 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; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37Whoever 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; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 40‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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