Jesus said this:

Do not think that I came to bring peace
on the earth; I did not come to bring peace,
but a sword.

For I came to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother, and
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
and a man's enemies will be
the members of his household.
Matthew 10:34, 35 NAS
 
Jesus' creative coming is
(by the original pattern)
followed by separation,
and marked by the division
His real presence causes.

The sword - not peace -
is the first result of His coming.
Separation in relationships: the closest ones.
The favorite ones.

Division before ever there is unity.
Individuality first, only then . . .
real community.

God is jealous over His own originality.
What He creates He wants to see in
full operation, unhindered in the
the freedom
of His intended expression.

But those around us contain us.
We succumb to their definition and
swallow the oppression of their controls.
And we cease to be who we are in favor
of a false creator's judgments.

The sword severs the trapping ownership
that love thinks is love.
If we will let the sword attack our captivity
and release us into a solitary
place with God,
we can become what we are.
The unique expression, that uncopyable person
belonging to God,
having been dreamed by God and
fully satisfying what is for God.

Separation is liberation.
God is not into . . . mixture.

His created-new appears only after
separation.
When we resist the separation
we stop the creation . . .
of our own new life.

Copyright © 2003 Martha Kilpatrick