Casting Fire

 

August 17, Saint Barnabas Lutheran Church, Howard Beach, Queens, N.Y.

In the scripture we read last week, Jesus offered us words of comfort.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Lk 12:32)

This week the clouds move in and an ominous smell of smoke is in the air.

 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint 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.” (Lk 12:49-56)

 Whoa. What happened between last Sunday and today? I searched for commentaries that would explain what Jesus means by fire and division. There are many other passages we like better because they present a gentler Jesus who calls on us to love God and each other. It’s tempting close our ears to fire and division while humming the tender strains of “Beautiful Savior.”

But this is not the first time Luke has warned us that paths to discipleship will not always be comforting or smooth. Early in his gospel, the old man Simeon offers a clear-eyed summary of messiahship.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.” (Lk 2:34-35)

From the very beginning it was obvious that Jesus would be a cause for division and conflict among those who could not accept who he is and what he came to do. Some expected him to be a military messiah who would use God’s might to vanquish the repressive Romans. Those in power feared him as agitator calling the people to rebellion. Pharisees saw him as a subversive who was disrupting ancient practices of Abrahamic law. Nearly everybody thought he was trying to become king of the Jews. When Jesus said he came to bring division, he knew it was already happening.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to us that Jesus is divisive because we see this happening all around us. There are many different sects of Christianity, including Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, mainline Protestant, evangelical, Pentecostal, as well as millions of independent congregations – many of which are hostile to each other. In the long history of Christianity, Catholics burned Protestants, Protestants burned Catholics, and Lutherans burned Mennonites. And I dare say none of them ever stopped to appreciate the irony of Jesus’ words: “I have come to bring division.”

In our current turbulent era, the divisions have become political. Perhaps you follow the cryptic theologian Rainn Wilson, better known as Dwight in the TV comedy “The Office.” Rainn, who was raised in the Bahái faith, has noted the ebbtides of U.S. Christianity with remarkable clarity:

He writes: “The metamorphosis of Jesus Christ from a humble servant of the abject poor to a symbol that stands for gun rights, prosperity theology, anti-science, limited government (that neglects the destitute), and fierce nationalism is truly the strangest transformation in human history.”

I suspect this Christian Nationalist view of Jesus is not the majority. In the years I worked for the National and World Councils of Churches, the church leaders I knew would have been appalled by this view. For most of them, Jesus made it abundantly clear that the way to repentance was to love God and neighbor, to put away our swords, to shed the worldly riches that distract us from God, to recognize that God’s kingdom is not an earthly nation state, and to share any wealth we may have with the poor.

For millions of Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians, serving the poor and victims of disaster means opening church doors to free lunch programs, creating international relief organizations like Church World Service or Lutheran World Relief. And serving persons who are struggling below the poverty line also means lobbying state and national government to provide a safety net for the working poor by guaranteeing a realistic minimum wage, and by maintaining the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicaid, health care, and, of course, Social Security.

On the other hand, there are Christians who want the church to steer away from politics and focus on winning poor people to faith where they can see God wants them to prosper by pulling themselves up by their own boot straps. Indeed, God will reward the faithful with riches beyond imagining.

Can there be any doubt that Jesus has – as he promised – brought division to his church? Many households experience this division during family Thanksgiving dinners that become microcosms of the discords of our society.

Can there be any doubt that on which side of the divide one stands is based on the Jesus we profess: the Jesus of love and giving and peace, or the Jesus of nationalism and the prosperity gospel.

Jared E. Alcántara, professor of preaching at Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, writes, “Division in families makes more sense when we consider who Jesus was and what he came into the world to do. Consider the most obvious source of contention. In a nuclear family, whether then or now, some conclude that Jesus is the Messiah, and others draw the opposite conclusion. Because these opposing views cannot be reconciled, division comes to a family—sometimes painful division.”

Reflecting on that, we may ask ourselves: where is the Gospel, where is the Good News, in this passage from Luke? Jesus sounds a little like the producer of a modern catastrophe film that threatens the end of the world: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze.” (Lk 12:49)

That gets our attention. I have a friend, a Pentecostal professor named Tom, who admitted he was an unruly child. Bored by the preacher’s warnings about fire upon the earth, he once hid behind the back pew and light kitchen matches. The acrid smell of phosphorous unnerved some members of the congregation who began dancing and speaking in tongues.

“It was my early effort at evangelism,” Tom said with a smirk.

What does Jesus mean when he says he wishes the earth was already ablaze? 

Matt Skinner, professor of New Testament at Luther seminary, warns us to be careful how we interpret that.

He writes: “Bad popular theology has done so much to train congregations to hear Luke 12:49 as a description of a God with an itchy trigger finger who just can’t wait to smoke some sinners. As a result, people duck their heads and wait until Jesus calms down and a nicer passage comes along. Isn’t the Parable of the Prodigal Son coming soon?”

Instead, Skinner writes, “The fire Jesus wants to kindle is a fire of change, the fire of God’s active presence in the world. No wonder he is so eager to strike the match.”

Professor Alcántara points out that Jesus’ reference to fire “would not have surprised Luke’s audience. In Luke’s account, John the Baptist declares that the one coming after him will baptize with the Spirit and fire; indeed, he will come with a winnowing fork in his hand to gather the wheat and burn the chaff.” (Lk 3:16–18).

Jesus’ promise of division and fire is difficult to hear, just as it is difficult to hear a doctor’s unpleasant diagnosis following test results that portend a long period of radiation or chemotherapy. 

But Jesus, like a conscientious doctor, is being honest with us. This must be endured before things will get better.

“Here is what might surprise us and perhaps undo us if we slow down long enough to let Jesus’ words reach us in a deeper place,” Alcántara continues. “The fire that Jesus wishes ‘were already kindled’ is a fire he will endure on our behalf. He refers this way to his imminent passion that will culminate on a cross: “’I have a baptism with which to be baptized and what stress I am under until it is completed!’” 

In this passage in Luke, Jesus is reminding us of his real role as God’s messenger of love and God’s emissary on behalf of the poor. Jesus reminds us that following him requires sacrifice and, indeed, suffering. It will not be easy for us to pick up the cross and follow him.

But it is Jesus who is passing through the winnowing flames that makes our salvation possible. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, enables us to endure the cleansing flames of repentance. And it is the Holy Spirit that brings us to faith and salvation.

We pray for the wisdom to understand who Jesus is: not the fair haired champion of the flag and guns and the prosperity gospel but the humble servant of the poor, the outcast, the unseen, and the lost.

Jesus foresaw this division, and churches, denominations, and family members are divided by which Jesus we choose.