A great response: Didn’t Jesus come to bring a sword?

When I speak about the Bible’s teaching on poverty, someone almost always asks, “But didn’t Jesus say the poor you will have with you always?” – as if to warn us against helping the poor because we might make Jesus a liar. I then point them to the passage Jesus was quoting, and they see for themselves the real thrust of the passage – hardly a plea for “laissez-faire” complacency about poverty! http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Deuteronomy+15
And when I speak about peace, someone almost always brings up the “not peace but a sword” verse. Here’s a great response to that question … from the good people of the Raven Foundation.
http://www.ravenfoundation.org/blogs/in-the-beginning/caesar-vs-jesus