One of the core ways for misunderstanding to build up is by receiving incomplete information about something someone else has said.  I believe this is a big part of the distrust between the Abrahamic faiths, and indeed, many of our broader misunderstandings today.  For example, the media can emphasize one particular phrase a person says, and build a completely different story based on that statement than what was intended.

In some cases, we simply lack the information to understand what a person is saying.  Consider some of Jesus’ phrases, which sound familiar to the Western mind, but perhaps we have not fully understood.  It is cases like these where studying the text through the Eastern lens reveals perspective we have not seen before.

Did Jesus Really Say, “I Come to Bring a Sword”?

“Do not suppose I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” At first blush, this verse seems to be in total contradiction to all the of Jesus’ teachings. How could the man who taught us to “turn the other cheek” and “love our enemies” by claiming that he came to bring a sword? In fact, this verse has even been used by some to justify violence against “non-believers.”

The truer meaning here is not sword, but division. This is more accurately rendered in the common English translations of the corresponding passage in Luke: “Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? I say to you no, but divisions.”

The teachings of Jesus were so revolutionary and contrary to the political, social and religious order of the day that when people followed them, divisions among families, friends and institutions inevitably ensued. Dr. Lamsa comments that the Eastern idiomatic aspect of these verses were not known by the Greeks. Jesus never suggested that his followers ought to “take up the sword,” but rather that following him would inevitably cause “divisions” and persecutions-as history has in fact shown to be the case.

[The Aramaic example is excerpted from Appendix 3 of A Deadly Misunderstanding.]

If we realize we can misunderstand our own text without careful study and prayer for God to reveal the truth to us, how much more might we misunderstand a related but unique text of a neighboring faith?

Thursday April 16, 3PM ET: Mark will join host Mark Pulver as the featured guest on Jesus21 a new show out of San Francisco. Listen In!

ABOUT Jesus21

Mark Pulver hosts Jesus21, a new media radio program that is focused on exploring the person and teachings of Jesus and how they intersect with key spiritual, social, vocational, economic and political questions of the 21st century. Jesus21 surveys a variety of topics through interviews and conversations with leading pastors, authors, scholars, business leaders, scientists and government officials. Mark received his Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and an undergraduate degree from Cal Poly, SLO. Mark lives with his wife and five children in the San Francisco Bay Area.