The impulse to correct what looks wrong is real. An apostrophe in the wrong place, a public sign that needs fixing, a world full of things that feel crooked, all of that can stir up righteous indignation. But the way correction happens matters. The attempt to right wrongs can reveal reverence, or it can reveal a lack of reverence for common life, history, community, and other human beings.
Reverence begins with the deep understanding of human limitations. It shows up in awe before what lies outside human control: truth, justice, nature, death, and the dignity of flawed people. Proverbs 3 names that reverence in very practical terms: do not plan harm against the neighbor who lives trustingly nearby, do not quarrel without cause, do not envy the violent, and do not choose their ways. The perverse, in that proverb, are not merely people with bad grammar or bad ideas. The perverse are those who become unnecessarily violent, those who lose the sanctity of human life.
Jesus steps into that same world. When the true light comes, the darkness responds. Herod’s slaughter of the innocents shows that goodness can threaten insecure power, and the forces of despair often move against the light. Even more sobering, people who think they are on God’s side can become the ones most caught up in that darkness. That means the moment of greatest confidence can also be the moment that most needs careful self-examination.
Jesus sends the disciples out two by two with hope, healing, food, love, and good news. But he also sends them with eyes open. Goodness will not always be returned as goodness. If Jesus himself is called Beelzebul, his followers should not be shocked when they are misunderstood, resisted, or harmed. His repeated word, “Do not fear,” does not pretend that life is not scary. It speaks courage into a real cost.
Jesus’ hard saying about not bringing peace but a sword is not permission to be hostile. It is not a call to violence or aggression. It is a call to martyrdom, because the sword belongs to those who attack the followers of Christ, not to Christ’s followers. The call is still, “take up the cross and follow.”
The command to love God more than father, mother, son, or daughter does not diminish human love. It deepens it. Loving God first makes love for others wider, truer, and more reverent. Love becomes the cure for fear, so fear may remain, but it no longer has the same way.
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Key Takeaways
- 1. Reverence begins with human limits Reverence is not weakness or sentimentality. Reverence starts when a person knows that truth, justice, life, death, and the neighbor are not possessions to control. That kind of awe creates room for respecting flawed human beings without pretending evil is harmless. [32:48]
- 2. Violence corrupts the correcting impulse The desire to fix what is wrong can be holy, but it can also become perverse when it loses reverence. Proverbs does not bless quarrels without cause or harm against the trusting neighbor. The hunger to be right must be judged by the way it treats actual people. [34:14]
- 3. The sword is not permission Jesus’ words about the sword have often been used backward. The sword is not placed in the disciples’ hands as a tool of domination or hostility. The cross, not the weapon, names the shape of faithful discipleship. [40:28]
- 4. Love God more, not others less Jesus does not command the disciple to stop loving family. Jesus commands love for God to become the first love, the love that orders all other loves. When God is loved most, parents, children, neighbors, and strangers are loved with greater reverence, not smaller affection. [44:36]
- 5. Love cures fear’s old rule Fear may remain when the world is cruel, harsh, unfair, or violent. But love changes fear’s authority, because love turns attention away from self-protection alone and toward God and neighbor. Courage grows where love becomes deeper than insecurity.
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