2022 Sun Aug 14

This a shift of mood in the gospel from last week’s Luke 12:32-48. That passage begins with a beautiful theme of blessing for the crowd. “Do not be afraid, little flock” to this week’s “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” Now there’s a shift ! 

When he is with the crowd, strangers and foreigners, he proclaims the Good News of God’s unconditional acceptance and universal compassion. When Jesus is with the disciples, his teaching is far more demanding and often blunt.

Contradicting the angels’ promise of peace on earth at his birth in Luke 2, Jesus emphatically denies that he’s come to bring peace. Instead, he claims to be the bearer of discord and fragmentation. As he journeys toward Jerusalem, Jesus becomes a source of conflict and opposition when he lays claim to startling forms of authority and power. His words are marked with a sense of urgency and intensity. The road to Jerusalem, after all, leads to a violent confrontation with death.

"Fire Window" – National Cathedral, Washington

This week’s gospel can be divided into three parts :

1 In verses 49-53, there are three images – casting fire, baptism/immersion , division of family members

At least with the first two images, fire and baptism, Jesus’ is distressed that he hasn’t completed these tasks. By placing this saying in the midst of the journey narrative — Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem but not there, yet — Luke may be indicating that the completion of these tasks takes place on the cross in Jerusalem when he is "immersed" into death, or, in a broader sense, his immersion into the passion/suffering events that take place in Jerusalem

Jesus explains the way in which His coming will “cast fire on the earth.” He also expresses an eagerness to get on with the process of bringing fire to the earth. This “fire” has implications for the family, but not those which we would prefer. The coming of Christ will cause great division within families, driving wedges between those family members between whom we normally find a strong bond.

What is this fire ?

One possibility of the “fire” of which Jesus spoke is the same fire about which the prophets, including John the Baptist, spoke—the fire of divine wrath. When Jesus said that He had come to “kindle a fire” – the outpouring of God’s wrath on sinful Israel/ His death on the cross would set in motion a series of events, which will eventuate in the pouring forth of God’s divine wrath on sinners.

Another possibility is to consider the phrase “begin on fire” to refer to someone who is passionate about something. We need to get rid of things that exploit and do not sustain us (such as poverty, racism, disease). Redemption can come only when those systems are shattered and consumed by fire and we rebuild based on a different set of values. Business as usual means injustice and death. Thus, life can not flourish with a crisis which is God’s presence.

Thirdly, it can also speak to Jesus transformation – from man to resurrected individual and the change. His purpose was to become a sacrifice for our sins and his baptism was the crucifixion. His death on the cross would set in motion a series of events, which will eventuate in the pouring forth of God’s divine wrath on sinners and the creation of the church

One needs to separate the idea of “means” and “end” in this passage . The difference is, on the one hand, that between “then” (heaven, the kingdom of God) and “now.” “Peace” is the end, but a sword and division is the means. “Life” is the end, but death—our Lord’s death, and the disciple’s “taking up his cross” is the means

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from his German prison cell in 1944 about the violence which destroyed the sense of fulfillment of life for him and the long isght of history. Out of this painful experience came a profound insight, part of his Daily Meditations from His Letters: “This very fragmentariness may, in fact, point toward a fulfillment beyond the limits of human achievement."

What is this baptism ? This part of the scripture refers to Jesus himself and not his followers. Not immersion in water but tis baptism is clearly the death which He would die on the cross of Calvary. He is being cleansed for a purpose . His purpose was to become a sacrifice for our sins and his baptism was the crucifixion. It can refer also to his mission against the structures of the world about which he is “stressed” since it will lead to his own death. Yet, there is relief when it is over.

The division which Jesus speaks of here has several interesting features. Following Jesus is more than just affirming his message – it is teaching of action which has its consequences. First, there is a division which occurs within the family.

-father against son 

-mother against daughter 

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

Peter Wood speculates that Jesus may have meant, 1. Conflict within the order of Rome, the cult of the emperor. 2. Conflict within Jewish families with the importance of the mother determining who is Jewish. 3 Conflict within entities themselves such as within believers, or today within churches,

Second, there is a polarization which is described, so that it is not “one against one,” or to follow the imagery established by our Lord, “one against four,” but “two against three” and “three against two.” All these numbers don’t divide evenly. Is this the origin of “being at odds with someone”?

Those who have come to faith in Christ will join together into a new kinship, while those who have rejected Christ will also find a new bondage, a new basis of unity, in opposition to Christ

As Phyllis Tickle writes, “All change – even Good News change – will cause conflict and grief for the simple reason that all change – even Good News change – means giving up / losing something, and it means valuing one thing over another.” Out of the old traditional family comes a new family of believers. This was a challenge to the biological family in that time, extremely important. You risk being cast out – an extraordinary demand.” You risk your own baptism on the cross.

Jesus warned that those who make a commitment to him will be persecuted, that a commitment of faith also means that our attitude toward material possessions must change, and that moral responsibilities must be taken with even greater seriousness. Because our commitment to Christ shapes our values, priorities, goals, and behavior, it also forces us to change old patterns of life, and these changes may precipitate crises in significant relationships

2 In verses 54-57, Jesus speaks specifically to the multitudes, pointing out a very serious hypocrisy. He reminds them that while they can forecast tomorrow’s weather by looking at present indicators, they cannot see the coming kingdom of God as being foreshadowed by Christ’s first coming.

The illustration seems to point to the weather patterns in the Near East. The Mediterranean Sea was to the west and winds from that direction brought rain. The desert was to the south and winds from that direction brought heat.

He calls the religious leaders hypocrites. He criticized them and also his hearers about their lack of ability to perceive spiritual realities around them. Why, then, could these people, skilled at reaching conclusions about the weather, not come to the conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah, based on the voluminous evidence, all of which conformed perfectly to the predictions of the prophets?

You can look at this in another way and see the implications of our own lives. It is time to check the direction of the wind and let that determine the course of action. We tend to let the insignificant dominate our attention while miss or ignore the significant. Our actions help to determine the future as natural consequence follow from the weather

3 Verses 58 and 59 conclude the chapter by making a very personal and practical application. Reconciliation with their opponent needs to take place prior to standing before the judge.

I. Theme –   The connection between speaking out for God and making enemies

National Cathedral – “Fire Window”

The lectionary readings are here or individually:  

First Reading – Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm – Psalm 82
Epistle – Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Gospel – Luke 12:49-56 

Today’s readings recognize the connection between speaking out for God and making enemies. In Jeremiah , God denounces those false prophets who tell lies in God’s name. The author of Hebrews urges believers to accept hardship as a divine aid to discipline. There are no guarantees that the faithful will thrive. They may be the objects of persecution and violence, but even in adverse situations, their hearts and minds are focused on God’s realm. This may minimize the emotional impact of persecution. Jesus warns that his ministry will bring a time of spiritual crisis.

When we ignore the poor, when we turn away from the cries of injustice in this world, we turn away from Jesus himself. In Jesus’ day, the religious hypocrites would claim to follow God’s ways but had no concern for the very ones God declared concern for through the prophets. To this day, we end up being concerned more about right belief and right doctrine than how we live out our faith. When we look to the prophets and to Jesus, we see God hearing the cries of the poor, the widows and the orphans. We see Jesus eating among the sinners and tax collectors and the prostitutes. We hear the rejection of Jesus by others being a rejection of God’s love for all people, but especially the marginalized and outcasts. This same rejection happens today—we fashion Jesus into being concerned about right belief, when Jesus seems clearly to be concerned with how we love one another. We continue to miss the mark, transforming a love for all, especially those on the margins, into a love for a few who are obedient to a set of rules.

In the maelstrom of conflicting positions and cultural divisions, Jesus challenges us to interpret the signs of the times. Awareness opens us to see the connection between injustice and violence and consumerism and ecological destruction. The causal network has a degree of inexorability: although we are agents who shape the world, we do reap what we sow.

II. Summary

First Reading –  Jeremiah 23:23-29

Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry in 627 BC, and ended it about 580 BC. His career spanned the period culminating in the Kingdom of Judah’s final defeat by the Babylonians, the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple, and the exile of the major part of the population. In the time before the final defeat, some prophets advocated resistance while Jeremiah counseled submission to Babylonian rule as being God’s will.

Jeremiah was blunt about what was right and what was not, and he suffered at the hands of the powerful because of his outspokenness. Judah’s defeats at the hands of foreign enemies were the result, Jeremiah insisted, of the bad faith of the king and other leaders among the people. This and similar statements seemed seditious to some. They were still reluctant to kill him outright, so they got the king to order Jeremiah thrown into a pit and kept there. Then someone else got the ear of the wishy-washy king, and successfully argued for Jeremiah’s release

In these passages, Jeremiah ponders what it is that constitutes true prophetic work, and determines that it is proclaiming the word (of God) faithfully. . Jeremiah’s 23^rd chapter is a compendium of commentary on the work of the prophets. They are compared to evil shepherds, and liars.

Jeremiah 23:23-39 shows God’s faithfulness through the covenant with Israel. Through Jeremiah, we are reminded that our God is a God who is close to us, not far away. Our God is the creator, the God who is faithful to all of creation. Many of the prophets in Jeremiah’s day have gone astray and just prophesy what the people want to hear, but the true prophet will speak in faithfulness. Though this passage may seem dark words from Jeremiah, we are reminded that God continues to be faithful, God continues to be very near, and God’s word is like fire that purifies, a hammer that breaks through the rock of stubbornness, the rock of oppression.

God is fully aware of the activities of these false prophets and brings them to judgment. God is no local deity easily hoodwinked, but transcendent and omnipresent. God is not revealed in dreams, but in visionary experiences (the classical prophetic tradition distinguished strongly between dreams and visions). God’s word does not result in the forgetting of God’s name. Its impact is challenging, not soothing. The final result is never complacency but radical obedience.

Psalm –  Psalm 82

Psalm 82 shows that God is the God of justice. This psalm celebrates Israel’s God as the ruler over all the nations and their protective deities

This psalm assumes a heavenly court of other gods, in which God cries out for justice against the unjust gods. God removes their power, making them powerless, and instead gives power to the powerless ones, the weak, the widow, the orphan, and the needy. God is the God of the oppressed, the God of the marginalized, and God will not rest until they receive justice.

The psalmist sees justice as being foundational. It is justice that allows the earth “to be” – “all the foundations of the earth are shaken”, when justice is not allowed to have its way. Even God’s own realization is shaken. “I thought that you were gods”. Now there is a different understanding on God’s part. “You shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.” The powers that were thought to rule life are found to be wanting. It is God who will rise and judge the earth.

Epistle-  Hebrews 11:29-12:2

This letter was written for the sake of Jews who had become Christians, and who were promptly rejected by other Jews. Kicked out of synagogue and cut off from family and old friends, from the comforting rituals and institutions they had known, these folks needed their faith bolstered

The letter to the Hebrews bolsters the faith of Jewish converts who missed the rituals and institutions of Judaism. The author wants his audience to think of themselves as athletes in a race in a stadium. The fans cheering for them are ancestors who struggled for the faith in the past. Jesus, on the other hand, is not a cheering witness, but the supreme example. The sentences describing his fidelity are not just images; they’re strong and direct statements

The author recalls examples of faith from throughout Israel’s history. He recalls the experience of the early Israelites during their exodus from Egypt and their trek through the wilderness to the promised land. He alludes to the Judges, the kings and the prophets whose faith provided and protected the nation. Many were rejected and killed for what they believed in. These heroes of the faith, these witnesses give us strength and hope. Through many trials and persecutions, these ancestors persevered because of their trust in God. However, they “did not receive what was promised,” because God had an unexpected surprise in store through Jesus, who will be the perfect model of faith. Ultimately it is Jesus who gave himself for us, who let go of himself to die and live for us.

Verse 12:2 is a brief hymn, summing up Christ’s work as model and perfecter of faith. Christ sets up the race, an appropriate Hellenistic model, as the metaphor for life. That life might include difficulties is exactly the connection that the author wishes to make with the life of Christ Jesus voluntarily submitted himself to suffering and in turn reaped the reward of resurrection and exaltation to the place of honor at God’s right hand. His example is the model for any suffering that we might need to endure in order to arrive where he, as leader, has gone before us

Gospel –  Luke 12:49-56 

Today’s gospel reading again expresses the sense of imminent crisis in Jesus’ own ministry and in the life of the nation. There are two central images.

Jesus speaks of his ministry, through which he intended to reveal and establish right relationships, as being “to set the earth on fire.” Fire is an apt image of God’s transforming presence because it leaves nothing that it touches the same as before. Fire destroys but with it also purifies. A second image is baptism in which water can be death or life.

All of these images are pointing to the passion, and this aspect will serve as a dividing point for many. Jesus speaks to the difficulty of God’s judgment, that people will become divided because of it, even within the family, even within what is supposed to be one, units of sometime comfort and closeness.

Jesus has come to reconcile all people to God, but that reconciliation will cause some to reject God. There are those who cannot accept a God who accepts and loves all people. They will reject Jesus, and in turn reject the very God who loves them. And those who do reject Jesus do not understand what they are doing, they do not understand the signs of the times for them.

The peace Jesus has come to bring by establishing right relationships demands a complete revaluation and transformation of oneself and one’s relationships .