Jeremiah 23:23-28 23
Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off? 24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed! I have dreamed!” 26 How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back—those who prophesy lies and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? 27 They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord.
Luke 12:49-56 49
I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do 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; 53 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.’ 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. 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?
Over the past 3 weeks – all of our lay ministers have preached from Luke chapter 12. Bible scholars believe these chapters of Luke occur in the Jerusalem in the weeks before Palm Sunday. We are dealing with the final month in the ministry of Jesus. He has returned to Jerusalem. His preaching is in high gear and in chapters 11, 12 and 13 there are many parables and lessons.
Jill taught about the parable of the rich fool and to instead build up your treasures in heaven. And Peter taught about Jesus’ lessons to not worry and taught to: seek the father’s kingdom and you will be given all that you need. Other lessons in chapter 12 are to be wary of the hypocriticalness of faith, to always profess the truth of Jesus and to always be ready to serve and to be good stewards of what has been provided. These are lessons or appeals on how to live as a Christian. The attitudes to adopt.
In the prior verses, Jesus answers a question from Peter, so he’s still talking to the disciples and not to the crowd. He’s talking with those that already believe or want to believe. He’s talking about his purpose. We have come to know that the Gospels means - the Good News. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. But what he says here is not about peace. He is saying I am not here to bring peace on earth, instead I am coming here to bring division! This reading from Luke certainly doesn’t sound like good news.
Given the times we live in, it’s easy to think about how our society is divided. Where should I start? There are people who want to be masked and those who want to remain unmasked; vaccinated or anti-vax; pro-life or pro-choice; Donald Trump - love him or hate him? iPhone vs android; Yankees or Mets? And it’s unfortunate, but Christ is used as the dividing line on many of these issues. And worse… we can find division within the church. That’s not a new phenomenon. In First Corinthians 11 Paul writes that “No doubt there have been differences among you to show you which of you have God's approval.” So he believes that the divisions within the church are really to help to see who has greater faith. Put another way, divisions over issues such as these clarify which of them has God's approval for their faithfulness in doing what is right. We’ve all been witnesses to believers that are justifying their actions by faith.
Back in verses 8 Jesus specifically warns against the yeast of the Pharisees; warns against the hypocritical who are using faith to justify their actions. But this particular reading has nothing to do with any of that – nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with our situation – he is talking about a different type of division. So let’s turn to what exactly Jesus says. He says “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
So, what type of fire was he bringing? Is this the fire of judgement? Is it the fire of the Holy Spirit that would only come after he had been crucified? It may be that the fire Jesus spoke of is the spread of the good news and the coming expansion of the work of His kingdom across the globe, which could not happen until He had accomplished his work on the cross. I read a bunch of analysis and all three were reasonable. I can’t tell you which is strongest or even most appropriate.
The next verse though is leading to the crucifixion: “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed.” He’s not talking about his baptism by John with water in the river Jordan, that’s already happened. Nor is he talking about the baptism of the holy spirit. He’s talking about being immersed in the experience of death and resurrection. He knows the future. We can see the past on what he will endure. The disciples though, they don’t quite understand. He’s already told them about his future betrayal and death. Maybe they get it, maybe they don’t. But now he throws down the great divide. Why is Jesus breaking up families? I think it’s simple: what do you believe? Do you accept that Jesus is your savior or not? Every person must come to terms with Jesus on their own. And within any house there will some that believe and some that don’t. And it can fall down hard on us that believe.
I used to help teach confirmation class with Martel (hey Martel) And the point of the class was to get every teen to commit to be a believer and join the church; to fully understand that commitment. Not every kid is willing, and for parents that were active in the church, that rejection hurt. The former pastor at Morristown, Dave Smazik, was the son of an African missionary. His brother, not a believer. The founder of the mission organization I work with, an evangelist in the traditional sense: his son is a skeptic. One of my kids is dismissive of religion and our sky god. I’m sure you have either a spouse, a parent or a child, that doesn’t share your belief or the passion that you bring to your relationship with Christ. And it can hurt because we understand the cost. They aren’t saved. It’s not their behavior now that bothers us (although it might be) but the fact that they are lost to eternity without believing. And the twist of the knife here is that we feel we haven’t helped them understand that cost. We take it as our failure. It’s our fault they don’t believe.
The only relief I can offer is that the burden of belief isn’t on us, that’s between God and each individual. It’s God’s job to change hearts. He won’t give up on them; he sent his son to die on the cross for them too. Now that change might not happen until they’ve gone through some suffering. A hard heart must be broken before healing can take place and we may not be around to witness it. But it’s up to us as believers to model the behavior of Christ, to pray and let God do his work.
So, the final portion of our reading is anticlimactic. Jesus turns back to the crowds and paraphrases Bob Dylan - You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. You can read the weather, but you don’t see the truth with your very eyes. The prophets all spoke of the messiah to come. They’ve witnessed his miracles and his preaching, and yet there’s those that don’t believe – right in front of him.
The big challenge we have today, is the half-truths from leaders, the soundbites on media, the tiktok and Instagram influencers are speaking from their view. We live under a fog of distraction and misdirection. That’s why your presence here today and online is important. The shared life of the faithful, in worship, in prayer, and in fellowship keeps us centered – aligned with the father.
May it always be so. Amen.