Luke 12.49-56 12th after Trinity (Proper 15)

Luke 12.49-56 (NRSV)

Jesus the Cause of Division

⁴⁹ ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! ⁵¹Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! ⁵²From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³they 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.’

Interpreting the Time

⁵⁴ 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. ⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

This lesson, like the incident of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple, is one of those awkward passages that many people deal with in a variety of unsatisfactory ways. Some say that it is so uncharacteristic of the behaviour and message of Jesus and that it must be a mistake. Others decide that they do not understand this so they just ignore it and move on and just read further. But we have learnt that one often needs to ponder, even struggle with what we read, and out of that process we always receive rich and wonderful blessing from God's word. We need to remember that through the Scriptures, God speaks to his people. But in this process, the people have to listen. Those of you who are parents will identify with an experience I often have as a teacher, where I speak and some children physically hear what I have said but do not listen. We too can often hear the word of God physically, but are sometimes not listening for what he is saying to us.

Eugene Peterson explains what God requires of his people in this way:

... apart from the act of listening and responding, [words] ... cannot function according to the intent of the speaker. For language in its origin and at its best is the means by which one person draws another person into a participating relationship. ... The intent of revelation [in Scripture] is not to tell us about God but to involve us in God.

One of the reasons why Jesus was always challenging the Scribes and the Pharisees was that (as Peterson continues)'... they knew the words of scripture well but heard the voice of God not at all'.

When we use the Scriptures as our means by which we listen to God, and not just a book that we use for whatever other reason, then we often have to stop and think, sometimes even struggle until we find what God is saying to us.

All this reminds us that words do not often mean what they might appear to mean on the surface, and before we jump to conclusions, we need to stop, listen clearly to the words and think. But all too often this does not happen. The rule is rather that people hear words, don't really even listen to make sure that they understand, decide for themselves what they mean and then react. Few people ever bother to find out what the truth is and what the words mean - they just react.

Jesus' audience had this problem. Few people took the time to listen to each other, let alone listen to God. People make up their minds for themselves without really listening and so strife and conflict is the order of the day. Often in a situation of conflict, the one party is formulating what their response is going to be and is therefore only hearing with a fraction of their concentration what the other person has to say. No wonder the divorce rate is so high, no wonder conflict and violence ravishes our world. Often throughout his ministry, Jesus was on the receiving end of such treatment. In John 7:12 we are told:

There was much whispering about him in the crowd. "He is a good man," some people said. "No," others said, "he is misleading the people." But no one talked about him openly ... (TEV)

No one talked about Jesus openly. People love to listen to scandal, but few will take the time and trouble to find out the truth. Few will actually take the time to listen and think and ask and receive more information before they do anything. The result - conflict, division, hatred, violence.

In our study of Luke's Gospel, we have seen that one cannot be neutral with Jesus. He warned that we are either for him or we are against him. When a person belongs to Christ division often results because Christ's standards are in conflict with those of the world. The world loves sin. Christians have to stand out against sin and because of their opposition to sin they are often persecuted. This was Jesus' experience and he knew that it would be the experience of all those who were faithful to him. This was nothing new. Life is never fair and never will be fair because sin reigns. So how do we deal with this? Jesus had earlier told the people that what ultimately matters is hearing and doing God's word. Remember Luke 8:21 where Jesus said:

"My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." (NRSV)

And again in Luke 11:27-28:

While he was saying this, a women in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!" But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!" (NRSV)

The fire Jesus speaks about in verse 49 refers to judgement and testing. There is no doubt that our Lord's coming brought with it judgement. John the Baptist had prophesied that Jesus would baptise with fire. It never occurred to anyone that Jesus would be the first one to pass through the fire of judgement. Jesus goes through the fire beginning with the opposition he faces to his beliefs and values and finally culminates in his death on the cross.

Jesus did not relish the prospect of his suffering nor the suffering his disciples would have to go through. As one Wilkinson writes:

We glimpse here something of the strain and anguish of soul which our Lord was suffering at this time.

The literature of the intertestamental period is full of predictions that the Messiah would have to suffer terribly before the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Jesus knew that he was the one to experience these terrible things, and in his humanity longed for it all to be over. Verses 49-50 read:

I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptised, and what stress I am under until it is completed. (NRSV)

The divisions and conflicts, even among families were and are an evil which would precede the coming of the end of this age and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Many years before, the prophet Micah (chapter 7) had written:

... the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household. But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Jesus is not happy about this, but the fact of the matter is that division happens. Jesus does not cause it - the sin of people causes it. There is division because of Jesus only because the people do not want to give up their sin. In these situations people should be patient - they should wait, they should pray and they should listen.

Jesus elaborates by using two parables.

In the first, Jesus calls for discernment. The people Jesus was speaking to were largely of farming stock. They would have known how to read the signs of the weather. The people were full of knowledge, but had no wisdom. The people, under the guidance of their religious leaders should have been able to see that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. Everything that had been prophesied about the Messiah was completely and utterly fulfilled in Jesus.

When people can see the coming of a storm they can make preparation for it. When people know that any natural disaster is coming, they do what they can to save themselves. The Scriptures speak clearly of the coming judgement of Christ being preceded by dissension and anguish - all the things that are happening in the world today. But with all the knowledge, there are few who take heed of the spiritual wisdom that is in the word of God. There are many who might make a passing reference to Scripture, but there are few who really take the time to listen closely, to hear and to put into practice what it is saying.

I end with a few thoughts that I believe distinguishes between hearers and true listeners to what Jesus is saying to us:

Eugene Peterson paraphrases the message in Philippians 2 as follows:

Agree with each other, love each other, be deep spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Peterson paraphrases 1 John 4 as follows:

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgement Day - our standing in the world is identical with Christ's ... If a person boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

Where do we stand? Are we at peace with God? Is it clear for all to see that we are at peace with God because we are filled with the fruits of His Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control? Are we really those who really listen to his word and act in obedience to what it says?