INTENSE
That's how I'd desribe Jesus right about now. Matthew 10 is heavy stuff.
32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For 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. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 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. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Notes from the ESV study bible:
A Christian can easily avoid persecution by denying that he or she is Jesus' disciple. But the true disciple does not fear death (v. 28) and will publicly acknowledge and confess Jesus.
Sword is a metaphor for the inevitable separation between those who believe in Christ and those who do not, even within a family (i.e., faith in Christ may set a man against his father). Jesus' own family opposed him before they came to recognize his true identity (13:53–58; Mark 3:21; John 7:3–5). Thus, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Jesus asked for unqualified allegiance, something even the most esteemed rabbi did not demand. The central point of Matt. 10:34–37 is that love of God and his kingdom must take precedence over every other human relationship.
