Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three.
Did you just hear what Jesus said? "I came to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already kindled! … Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division. And when I finished reading this Gospel passage, this Good News, just a moment ago I concluded by saying, "This is the Gospel of the Lord" and you happily responded, "Thanks be to God"?
It can be rightly asked where is the Good News and why be thankful for a message of division and trouble? Anyone who has experienced the agony of family division and disrupted family relationships can hardly call that good news! How can we thank Jesus for such a message?
What are we to make of such talk? How does this message and picture of Jesus fit in with the gentle baby of Bethlehem. We sing about the "beautiful Saviour", and "fairest Lord Jesus". Beautiful, but let’s not be misled by these images, of sweet Jesus.
If we are to be rescued from sin, Jesus needs to talk to us bluntly about our sin. If we are to be rescued from death, and the control that sin has over our lives: we need a determined, resourceful, tough, and fearless Saviour.
When it comes to sin Jesus calls a spade a spade. People are offended at Jesus’ bluntness. Sin is serious business and if he has to, he will speak as severely as he needs to in order to get the truth through to us. He is prepared to be tough when he needs to be tough.
Just look at the cross. This was no place for a "gentle Jesus meek and mild", a "beautiful Saviour" or sweet Jesus. The cross is ugly, a place of pain, torture, cruelty, blood and inhumanity. It took a tough Jesus to allow this to happen to him. It took a strong and determined Jesus to do this for us. And so today, we read of the tough Jesus when he says, "I came to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already kindled!" He is talking about the fire that judges and cleanses. It is a fire the separates and divides.
He speaks of a division right through the middle of families – a division between those who follow Jesus and those who don’t. He speaks of tension, a lack of peace, and warns that there will be a judgment. Jesus didn’t come to sing us to sleep with soft songs and false security, and false theology.
He hasn’t come to make us feel so comfortable and relaxed that we doze off.
In the Old Testament God’s prophets spoke against God’s people who had been sucked into believing that there was peace when there was no peace. False prophets flattered the ears of the people and told them only what they wanted to hear.
God sent his prophets, not to tell the people that God was a gentle old man in the sky who didn’t really mind, but that he did mind - they had wandered from God’s ways and he was angry because of their sin. When they thought everything was peaceful and happy, in actual fact, they were far away from God and it was on the cards that they would experience his fire of judgement.
It’s easy to like Jesus the Good Shepherd, the Jesus who blesses little children and deals compassionately with the sick and the lonely. It’s easy to believe that this kind of Jesus is so kind-hearted and gentle that he couldn’t get too upset about anything. We have a world today that doesn’t really take Jesus seriously.
People believe that Jesus is so conforming that he doesn’t care what we believe as long as we are sincere.
As Christian people, you are faced with the same kind of temptations. It’s easy to think that Jesus won’t be upset about we put on the offering plate. He won’t be offended if we pretend we didn’t hear about the person who needed some kind of help; He won’t mind if we’re too busy and too tired to go to worship, or read the Bible and pray.
Jesus is too cool to be worried about our disagreements, our selfishness and our inability to get on with others.
Is Jesus so gentle and kind that he says that any thing goes?
Does he agree that your most important relationship is with ourselves?
Does he join the world in chanting 'peace, peace' where there is no peace?
No, he most certainly does not. Jesus does mind. He is not happy with what is going on in our world. He is no gentle Jesus meek and mild when it comes to sin and wrong doing.
He doesn’t fudge the truth that sin kills. Sin has deadly consequences. Sin is not to be taken lightly, and so he says: "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" He wants to light a fire! Fire burns and destroys. Jesus wants to bring fire on the earth.
The fire that sweeps through the rubbish, the clutter, the lack of discipleship, disbelief, and the procrastination; the fire that burns away our excuses and our defenses and exposes the sin that we have been trying to ignore. Fire purifies, but it also brings new life. Fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit brings about a change in our lives. He gives new life. We are called to a new way of life, a new peace, a new relationship, a new rule of God in the hearts and lives of everyone who believes. Jesus does mind if we try to tack our Christianity on to our old ways.
The new life demands an end to the old - old loyalties, old ways of behaviour, old attitudes, in fact, everything that does not fit with the command of putting God and the needs of others before ourselves. Jesus calls for a division between faith and unfaith, good and evil, easy and hard.
Jesus points out that to really have faith in him, to really know what true Christianity is, means to be personally dedicated and committed to Jesus and his ministry. This requires a struggle within each of us to cut away what is bad and evil and to maintain our loyalty to Jesus.
Through both God’s Word and the Sacrament, we are encouraged by the Holy Spirit to put off the old, and put on the new life fitting for the kingdom of God. Daily we repent and divide off those old ways and turn to Jesus in faith for forgiveness and the new life.
Jesus continues, "Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division." The response to Jesus, and his call to discipleship will cause people to be either for him or against him. Not only will people in society be divided, but that division will run through the relationship that we hold most sacred – the family.
Enthusiasm for Christ has divided friends and nations. Parents and children may be divided over the claim of Jesus on their lives. As uncomfortable as this concept is - Jesus is the great divider. Or should I say – rather it’s the response of people to Jesus that divides. We all agree on God, but when Jesus Christ is mention it changes things.
In most cases the moment we make our loyalty to Jesus known, there will be those who will love you for it, and there will be those who will think you are a strange, a religious nut, fundamentalist, and narrow minded. This stuff is outside the comfort zone, but it's the raw truth. Jesus reinforced this message by saying: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
"No doubt today’s text contains uncomfortable words. Cutting words. Words we are inclined to cut out of our Bibles as we stay with warmer sentiments and more harmonious thoughts. But Jesus said it, Luke wrote it down it, and those who selected the readings for today included it.
But these are important words. They jerk us out of our comfortable and snoozy religion. They remind us that Jesus is tough on sin. But there is more. Jesus is not just tough on sin, every sin, but he has dealt with the power of sin, on the cross.
That is the good news in this text. He conquered its power to condemn us. He has brought the love of God into our hearts. Ever so grateful for the salvation Christ has brought, we say at the end of the Gospel reading, "Thanks be to God."
May the peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
Amen
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
August 15, 2004