Luke 12.49-53

COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

(Luke 12.49-53)

Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna at the end of the first century, once described Marcion as the 'first-born of Satan’.

I think you will agree that is not the sort of language you would associate with a bishop!

So who then was Marcion? He was the son of the Bishop of Sinope, situated on the shores of the Black Sea, at the turn of the first century. Although Marcion was initially a seafarer, he soon came ashore and pursued his studies in Rome.

He claimed that there were two Gods. The God of the Old Testament who was fickle, capricious, ignorant, despotic and cruel. Not a very pleasant God, I am sure you would agree. The God of the New Testament was by contrast a God of love.

To support these heretical ideas, Marcion rejected all of the Old Testament, and accepted only the Gospel of St Luke and the Epistles of St Paul in the New Testament. No wonder Tertullian, who lived at the turn of the second century, described Marcion's actions as like 'criticising with a pen knife’.

Whilst you and I may be amused at the rather eccentric behaviour of Marcion, we too are often in danger of being like him, when we become selective in our use of the Bible.

There are certain passages of the Bible, which we sometimes choose to ignore, explain away, or pretend that they do not exist, because they can upset our cosy picture of God, as revealed through Jesus Christ. And when we do this, we are no better than Marcion.

Take for instance the above Gospel reading. Are you happy to accept the testimony of the Bible, namely, that Jesus came to bring division and not peace? As a result of His coming, ‘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 daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law’.

I must admit, I am a little embarrassed by these words. Wouldn't it be marvellous if we could eliminate such awkward passages? Yes, perhaps a good case can be made for cutting out these words from our gospel reading in the same way as Marcion sought to edit the Bible.

But wait a minute. Let us look again at our Gospel reading before we reach for the scissors and paste.

The passage of scripture comes towards the end of Our Lord's teaching ministry, and just before he prepares to go to Jerusalem and face the Cross.

Firstly, Jesus says, 'l came to bring fire on earth'. Fire is used in the Old Testament as a symbol of judgement, whereby the rubbish is destroyed by burning, thereby allowing new growth. Likewise, those who came into contact with Jesus became aware of their own sinfulness and their need of forgiveness, and thereby to burn the past away, in order to allow new growth.

Secondly, Jesus says, 'l have a baptism with which to be baptised.' One recalls the words of Jesus to James and John when they sought for a privileged position in the kingdom. Jesus asked them, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptised with the baptism that l am baptised with?' The baptism to which Jesus refers is the suffering which preceded his death,

So likewise, Christians must be prepared to undergo suffering, if necessary, in their in following of Jesus. It was the First World War Army chaplain known as Woodbine Willie, who once said, 'Jesus offers us a cross and not a cushion'.

Thirdly, Jesus says, 'Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you but rather division!'. In Jewish thought, the Messiah would usher in a golden age of peace and prosperity. And this would certainly have been the intention of Jesus.

However, as men and women sought to follow Jesus, they found themselves turning their back upon the past, and this often involved members of their own families and even their friends. This would have been very acute in the first century, as Christianity began to burst out of Judaism. Even Simeon, at the Purification of Mary in the Temple, warned Mary of her future suffering when he said that a sword would pierce her heart also. And this it did at the foot of the cross as she watched her son dying.

The fire of judgement, the baptism of suffering and the division of family life were not the original intention of Jesus but rather the consequences of his ministry. They serve as a reminder to us all of the possible cost of discipleship.

Therefore, if we were to follow the practice of Marcion, and cut out this Gospel passage from the Bible, (because we are embarrassed by it, or because it upsets our sensitive hearing) we would lose an important part of the teaching of Jesus, about what it can mean to be a Christian.

When the Church of England voted in favour of women priests, some Anglican clergy applied to become Roman Catholics. However, Cardinal Basil Hume wisely said that they must accept the set menu and not look for an a la carte menu. In other words they had to accept all the teachings of that church, and not be selective.

And likewise we must be prepared to accept the full text of the Bible, as handed down to us, and not seek to be selective.