Luke 12:49-56 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
Jesus the Cause of Division
49 “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; 52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Interpreting the Time
54 He also said to the multitudes, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. 56 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?
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
What in heaven’s name are we to make of this passage? These words coming straight from the mouth of Jesus do not sound like the words of the one of whom Zechariah wrote at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, the one who would “guide our feet into the way of peace.” They are not the words we expect to hear from the man who said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them”; not the words of the caring rabbi who delivered the Sermon on the Mount, or who fed the 5,000; and certainly not the one who said to his followers, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
So what’s going on here? Was Jesus actually addressing the Romans and telling them that their days were numbered? Was he pointing at the Pharisees in the crowd and saying that he’d had enough of their falseness? Or was he just having a really bad day?
Maybe one or even all of these things were going on. But more than likely none of these is the correct way to understand this passage. We need to take Jesus at his word. When he says that he’s come to cast fire on the earth, we need to pay attention. When he says he’s come to bring division, we need to believe him!
But this only deepens the problem and increases our discomfort. With all of the divisiveness and discord we’re facing in our society these days, it certainly seems as though the absolute last thing we need this morning is a Gospel text that seems to encourage even more.
What could he possibly be getting at?
First, let’s talk about the fire. As our old friend William Barclay tells us, “In Jewish thought fire is almost always the symbol of judgment. So, then, Jesus regarded the coming of his kingdom as a time of judgment. The Jews firmly believed that God would judge other nations by one standard and themselves by another; that the very fact that they were Jewish would absolve them.”[1] Jesus – none too gently – disabuses them of this notion. But he also makes it clear to us that God’s judgment applies to us, too; and however much we might like to sweep that element of Jesus’ teaching under the rug, it stubbornly refuses to be ignored.
Art Merrill, our Old Testament professor in seminary, was fond of saying, “when we seek to understand a text, we must recognize that we stand under the text.” So it is here; Jesus’ words to the disciples and the other listeners are directed just as surely at us. We can’t afford the luxury of believing, for example, that those things we dislike about others don’t also lurk somewhere inside of us, as well. Otherwise the righteousness to which we are called turns into self-righteousness, the ugliest of all conceits. And that conceit not only kills our souls – not only does it kill us slowly from the inside out – but it poisons our relationships, it poisons our faith, and it destroys our church.
In their book Why Nobody Wants to Be Around Christians Anymore, Thom and Joani Schultz cite four reasons, based on their research, why many, many people these days go out of their way to avoid Christians –
- “You judge me.” Whether it’s their appearance, or their personal history, or their lifestyle, or whatever, people feel as though they’re being judged.
- “You don’t care about me.” Many people who have visited churches come away feeling that the members didn’t care about what they thought or felt; that the members didn’t listen, but instead lectured them.
- “You’re a bunch of hypocrites.” This one really hurts. Many of the people interviewed felt that the churches – and the members of those churches – they visited didn’t live out the gospel of love and grace that they preached.
- “You act like God doesn’t matter.” This is related to point 3 in that many of the respondents observed that those who professed to be Christians acted as though God were irrelevant in their lives.[2]
Now, again, I want to say that this is not an indictment of any of you, or a criticism of St. John’s, but rather it’s a description of the state of the church in these latter days. It shows what happens when people go from being followers of Jesus to being merely fans of Jesus; the following true story drives this point home:
Clarence Jordan was famous for his Cotton Patch Version of the Bible. In the 1960s he developed Koinonia Farm, an interracial project in Georgia. One day Clarence asked his brother Robert, who would later become a justice on the Georgia Supreme Court, to help his farm with a legal matter. Robert refused, saying it might hurt his political future. Clarence was shocked. He reminded Robert that as boys they had both accepted Jesus together. Robert replied that he still accepted Jesus: “I follow him to the cross,” he said, “but not onto it. I’m not getting myself crucified like he did.” Clarence replied, “Robert, then you’re not a follower of Jesus; you’re only a fan of his.”[3]
Jesus doesn’t need fans. Jesus needs followers.
Our UCC Statement of Faith tells us that God “calls us into his church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship”; and I think it’s the cost of discipleship that Jesus is getting at, too, with his talk about division.
Along with their belief that God would judge them with a different set of criteria than others, the Jews also believed that the Messiah, when he came, was going to be a conqueror and king, like David, only greater. And, boy oh boy, when the Messiah came, it was going to be grand! They would be back on top of the heap, and then the good times would roll!
Well, just like their notions of judgment, Jesus crushes their notions of a warrior Messiah. Instead of some war leader, he tells them that, because they were his followers, they would be regularly thrust into conflict and division – often with members of their own family. I can certainly attest to that myself, and I’ll bet many of you can, as well.
In his blog post for this week, Prof. David Lose writes, “To follow Jesus, you see, was to question the religious and economic and even political status quo. If you were Jewish, it meant accepting as the Messiah this itinerant rabbi who hung out with the disreputable, accepted sinners, and preached a message of love and forgiveness. It meant, that is, accepting as Messiah one who looked almost nothing like the warrior king David they had expected. If you were Gentile, it meant accepting as the Messiah this itinerant rabbi who hung out with the disreputable, accepted sinners, and preached a message of love and forgiveness. It meant, that is, accepting as Messiah one who looked almost nothing like what the culture held out as powerful or important.
Moreover, following Jesus meant not merely adopting new beliefs, but a new way of living. To be a follower of the one who accepted and even honored the disreputable meant that you needed to do the same, rejecting the easy temptation of judging others and instead inviting them into our lives. To be a follower of the one who preached love and forgiveness was to practice the same, particularly when it comes to those who differ from you even, and maybe especially, in terms of what they believe.”[4]
For these First-Century people, following Jesus demanded a complete change of mind, of heart, of living. Those who embraced Jesus’ teaching faced not just occasional inconvenience, or even just getting kicked out of their families – they faced having the full might of the authorities, both the Jewish and Roman, crash down on them. They faced persecution, and death.
Professor Lose starts his blog post by writing, “Odds are, if we stop to think of it, it costs us very little to be a Christian today, as even in an increasingly ‘post-Christian’ culture, going to church, if no longer quite the norm, at least occasions little comment.”[5] Later on, he modifies that opinion somewhat, but it is true that none of us is likely to face arrest, much less death, by being here today or by professing to be Christians. There are places in the world where Christians are persecuted for their faith; but we don’t have to worry about that.
Having said that, though, Jesus demands the same change of mind, heart, and living of us today as he did of those who heard him on that far-distant day. In fact, I think it’s maybe even harder for us than it was for those Believers back then. Then, it was a very black-and-white contrast. The choices were, generally speaking, pretty clear.
Nowadays, nothing is clear. Even using the word “Christian” requires definition. We can’t just say “I’m a Christian,” and let it go at that, because many of the people who hear that word are the ones the Schultzes talk about in their book; they’re people who – if they haven’t already bolted for the nearest exit – will ask us questions like, “What kind of Christian are you?” And they really want to hear what we have to say.
They want to know whether we’re fans of Jesus, or followers of Jesus. They want to know if we’re going to judge them, or accept them. They want to know if we’re going to hear them, or make them sit quietly and hear us. They want to know whether we walk the walk, and not just talk the talk.
Then there’s another issue for us – we’ve been members of the church (in one form or another, in one place or another) our entire lives, haven’t we? Don’t we qualify as “followers”?
Yes. I believe we do. But the really difficult thing for us today is what you might call intentionality. Maybe we can explore ways in which we can help each other be more intentional – more intentional in hearing God’s call to us and more intentional in responding to that call – in “walking the walk.”
So, what is that call? What are some of the specifics of “walking the walk”?
First, let’s take the words of I John 4:11 to heart: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” We can follow that up with the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Luke 6:31)
Second, walking the walk means helping others to meet the following needs:
- The need to believe life is meaningful and has a purpose;
- The need for a sense of community and deeper relationships;
- The need to be listened to and to be heard;
- The need to feel one is growing in faith;
- The need to be appreciated and respected;
- The need for practical help in developing a mature faith.
That is a faith that matters!
And here’s the best news you’re going to hear all day: YOU CAN DO THIS!
Your years of living the Christian faith in your lives have equipped you for this.
So, let’s go from this place today as renewed and energized followers of Jesus!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Barclay, William, The Gospel of Luke, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Ky., 2001, p. 201
[2] Taken from Schultz, Thom and Joani, Why Nobody Wants to Be Around Christians Anymore, Loveland, CO, Group.com, 2014, pp. 15-16
[3] Adapted from Link, Mark, SJ, Jesus: A Contemporary Walk with Jesus, Resources for Christian Living, Allen, TX, 1997, p. 369
[4] Lose, David, “Pentecost 13 C: Pursuing a Faith That Matters,” …in the Meantime, http://www.davidlose.net/2016/08/pentecost-13-c-pursuing-a-faith-that-matters/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+davidlose%2FIsqE+%28…In+the+Meantime%29
[5] Ibid.