Did Jesus Mean to Bring Division?

Dear Apologist, Why does Jesus say He came to bring division?  Wouldn’t Jesus have wanted peace, especially in families? 


Matthew and Luke’s Gospel record Jesus saying:

 “You think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three” - Lk 12:51 / Matt 10:34 

This seems contrary to what we’d expect of Jesus, who would presumably want peace within households.  So why does He say this?

To understand this, we need to keep in mind some of the mistaken expectations Jesus’ peers had regarding the mission of the Messiah.  They had thought the Messiah was going to toss the occupying Romans out of Israel, renew the Davidic monarchy, and inaugurate a new golden age.  The Apostles themselves expressed this belief in Acts 1:6, when they asked Jesus:

“Will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?”  

However, as Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, His kingdom was not of this world.  And the manifestation of God’s Kingdom on earth would not take the form of a militaristic Davidic nation-state, but the unification of Jews and Gentiles in the Church.  This discrepancy between expectation and reality helped make Jesus a “sign of contradiction” among His people.

Now, in Matthew 23 and Luke 13, Jesus expresses His desire to gather all of Jerusalem.  He says:

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" - Matthew 23:37

So when Jesus says that He has come to bring division, it isn’t because this is His primary desire.  Rather, He knows it will be the result of family members forming opposing conclusions about Himself and His ministry and then having to deal with that tension within their households. 

We can observe this happening even today (sadly) when families become religiously divided.  While family unity is the ideal, Jesus does make clear that fidelity to Himself comes first. As He says in Matthew 10:37:

"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."