When Jesus sent forth his disciples on the great mission of preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing the sick, he did not for a moment let them think that this was to be a flowery mission of ease or one lacking its full measure of responsibility. On the contrary, he warned them that they were going forth "as sheep in the midst of wolves." Their task was to bring healing and regeneration and a higher spirituality to the people. In speaking of the materialism of his times, he admonished his disciples that their work was to be a warfare against error's wiles. He said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Paul, that clear exponent of the Master's teachings, declared that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."
Wherefore this struggle to overcome the darkness of error if there is to be only hardship and persecution? Furthermore, how could the Master say to his faithful students. "I came not to send peace, but a sword"? The peace to which he referred was that false sense of peace in materiality, the counterfeit of the real. That there could be no peace which savored even slightly of evil, Jesus knew full well. Ease in matter, false pleasurable beliefs, sensuality, all forms of evil—even some of these coming in the name of good—these sins of the flesh testified to a peace that was neither real nor abiding. The mission of Christ Jesus was to overthrow the so-called kingdom of evil and to establish the reign of Spirit, God. Such a mission could have but one result, and that a complete and final victory over all error, one which would reveal the joy and the peace that come of righteousness.
In the Gospel of John, which records vividly those days of close companionship of the Master with his disciples, we note especially how calm, how poised, how tender, and yet how utterly courageous was this great Teacher as the evening of his career drew near. Jesus was well aware of the things that were just ahead; he alone could discern in all its clearness the meaning of the challenging errors. That which mortal sense would mark as colossal failure —the trial and crucifixion that were to befall him—would be to him experiences of triumphant victory over the belief that life could be or is mortal.
