Not Peace but Division
49“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
50But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!
51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.
53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Interpreting the Times
54He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does.
55And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is.
56Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?
57“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?
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