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LINK TO SCRIPTURE READINGS
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on, a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
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."
Luke 12:49-53
It is difficult to reconcile this week's Gospel with traditional images of Jesus as Good Shepherd and Prince of Peace; in fact, on the surface it seems as though Jesus is embracing division and glorifying conflict. Hearing him contradict any expectation that he has come to bring peace upends our hopes for a peaceful world. What about Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan? What about Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and conflicts in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo? What about peace in our cities and in our homes? If Jesus is not about to establish peace on Earth, what hope can humanity possibly have?
Shocking as Jesus' words may seem, we need to probe deeper. Surprisingly, the prelude to peace is fire— not the fire of destruction but the fire of purification, that fire which burns away all traces of egotism, narcissism, entitlement, and callousness, together with that mix of character flaws we traditionally name as the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth). What Jesus longs for is nothing less than the recreation of the world, the transformation of human hearts that will be made possible through his approaching sacrifice. His death, in fact, will be the portal through which his followers can die to sin— if they are willing to die to self, that is. To mix metaphors, only by entering the purgatorial flame can would-be Christians be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14).
"Surrender" is the keyword here. As long as we cling to the status quo, choosing indifference over passion, the portal to new life will remain closed; as long as we choose vested interests over the common good, safety over integrity, deception over transparency, cruelty over kindness, and hatred over love, we cannot enter the refining fire. Refusing to die to self, we may gaze at the flames but see only their destructive qualities, not their transformational powers. Ultimately, what Jesus demands of his followers is nothing less than the renunciation of security, predictability, and comfort-- costly discipleship instead of what Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer named as "cheap grace."
It is the conflict between costly discipleship and cheap grace that tears relationships apart —whether those of family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and even members of a parish or religious community. When following Jesus becomes inconvenient, even dangerous, there are many who prefer to follow a Jesus of their own making —a caricature of the One who preached forgiveness, love of enemies, trust in God, and love of neighbor. Needless to say, this distorted version of Christianity conflicts with the teachings of the Gospel Jesus — hence the reference to the sword in Matt 10:34: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."
The challenge of this Sunday's Gospel is to ask, "Whom do we worship?" Are we devotees of a one-dimensional Jesus to whom we turn for comfort and validation because he demands nothing of us? Or do we follow a Jesus who invites us into radical discipleship — that is, into an experience of love beyond our comprehension that calls us to let go of our finite selves? As Bonhoeffer pointed out, "Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ" (The Cost of Discipleship, 1937).
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