Gospel text for Sunday 19 August 2019

Luke 12.49-56         Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Reflection        It seems we are still living in the times Jesus proclaims, end times during which division has no bounds. What if this is actually good news? What if the divisions we are experiencing are an essential ingredient of our journey with Jesus? What if the apocalyptic prophet Jesus is calling us out saying “People, this journey we are on is no cake walk. It is not about sitting on my lap like dotting toddlers. It is not about making nice with one another, professing love and worshipping me. It is not even about being enlightened by my tutelage. It is about following me. It is about exercising justice and offering amends.”

Oh dear, we know where this lands Jesus. Crosswise with everyone and nailed to a tree. Now division is driving even closer to home, drilling itself right into my heart. “Yes Jesus I want to follow you. No Jesus I do not want to follow you.” Division burgeons, within me. 

And so we join “a lawyer (confronting) Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ what must (we) do to inherit eternal life?’ (Jesus says), ‘What is written in the law? (We answer), ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And (Jesus tells us), ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ (Luke 10.25-28) This is the infallible way that insures we ‘live,’ this is the way we are meant to participate in the creation of “the kingdom come.” 

But do we really love our neighbor as much as our selves? Do we insist that all sick people are cared for even at our own expense? Do we offer refuge to the frightened and oppressed foreigner? Do we feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless regardless of how they came upon hard times? Do we protect and give preferential treatment to children and the most vulnerable even when it means paying higher taxes for education and mental health care? Do we treat people who think or vote or have lifestyles unlike ours with respect and consideration? How well do we love our neighbors as ourselves?

Jesus expected the imminent end of history as he knew it and he purposefully, even zealously, participated in the creation of a new reality. If we desire the end of history as we know it, history fraught with division; father against son, son against father, friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, race against race, religion against religion, leader against leader, nation against nation, if we desire the end of this detonating divisiveness, it starts with us.  

We begin by admitting we could do better,  then dig into the work of living our faith. When we choose to put down our proverbial nets, walk away from our predictable lives, and act deliberately to put meat on the bones of our faith we will encounter division. People will judge and misunderstand us. Like Jesus, our families may call us crazy. Some will call us weak, others over zealous. Friends will see us as sell outs. Neighbors as outliers. When we turn our backs to the status quo and join Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, we can count on division. And, when we answer the call of the Jewish Apocalyptic prophet from Galilee we actively participate in the creation of “the kingdom come” right here, right now.

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Gospel text for Sunday 18 August 2013

Luke 12:49-56     Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"

Reflection      “The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, ‘You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enought to get the job done.” (George Carlin)

Apparently Jesus knew that he was close enough to get the job done, to set the people on fire!. Jesus knew his mission was to “bring fire to the earth,” which is to say, he came to ignite passion for the living God within the heart of humanity. And, Jesus was not naiive. He understood the divisive effect of passion inflamed for the living God in the context of pagan or secular culture.  

So Jesus warned the disciples (and us); throughout the earth, passion of and in and for living God will divide alliances, separate families, cull supporters of the common good from promoters of self interest, distinguish keepers of peace and reconciliation from protectors of the status quo and cull comunities of compassion from states of enmity. 

Jesus’ fire turns things upside down, and I don’t just mean moneychanger’s tables. Jesus’ fire makes me look in the mirror and ask, where am I straddling the gap? Where am I holding onto “the way things have always been” in order to avoid the divisiveness of standing with Jesus on the side of the hungry, the stranger, the rule breaker?  Where am I avoiding divisiveness in order to be liked, approved of, or to keep the peace? Where am I throwing water on my passion for living God in order to be socially acceptable? Ooops! If we are honest with ourselves we must admit, we make compromises all the time. Still, Jesus’ sorting process burns on, it has for two thousand years. 

Jesus is on a mission and there is no evidence that he will stop until it is accomplished. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (Luke3.17) That stirs up images of hammering chunks of rock from the earth, crushing then heating them to extreme temperatures, all the while hoping to extract a smidge of gold. The Spirit of Jesus within humanity is the refiner’s fire. It is passion burning from the inside out driving believers to distinguish ourselves from the secular realm. Yes, the process of being refined is not particularly pleasant, but it is not optional.

It is a matter of passion. What is it that drives us? What is it that moves us to get up in the morning, step out into the world and do whatever we do? I beleive Pierre Teilhard de Chardin answered this question when he wrote,“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will discover fire.” 

“Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” The Spirit, the fire, the passion of Jesus within will not rest in peace until humanity’s heart of compassion is restored in each and every one of us and our passion is allied with God's own passion.. “Do you not know how to interpret the present time?"