10th Sunday after Pentecost

August 18, 2019

“God’s Arsonist”

St. 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! 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! 52 From 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.”

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. 55 And 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?

Are you as shocked as I am by this gospel reading?  In the Passion Narrative in Luke Jesus tells Peter to put down his sword.

Jesus gives us a third way – the way of faith.  When Jesus was faced with ultimate violence and executed on a cross – he neither gave into fight or flight.  Peter took to the sword and offered to fight for his Lord.  Jesus told him to put down the sword.  In fear, then the disciples fled.  Jesus neither fled, nor did he fight – but Christ trusted in God.  Christ blazed a path - a third way for us – the way of faith. 

Yet this Sunday we hear the call for fire and division of families.  What is up with that?  Shall we just ignore these words of Jesus and pretend that they are just an anomaly?  Or is there something more, something behind these words of challenge and judgment?  What is the message for us today as we sit in our comfortable pews?

St. Luke is the editor and so we need to see this in the context of the entire Gospel of Luke.  Two major themes in Luke are God’s great reversal – how the coming kingdom – the nearness of God’s rule is turning things upside down and the second – Jesus turns his face toward Jerusalem.

The Great Reversal:

In chapter 1 Luke puts these words in the mouth of Mary:

God has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty. [51-53]

That is Mary’s Magnificat – her song of reversal. 

Luke is good at using foreshadowing of events.  He tells how Simeon, the old man at the Temple tells Mary and Joseph at the Presentation or Dedication of Jesus:

And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.  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."

Luke really predicts this kind of Jesus - the fiery prophet who calls his followers to single-minded allegiance.  In fact Luke portrays Jesus as the new Elijah.  And as you may know Elijah was one of the early prophets who spoke boldly to King Ahaz and Jezebel about Israel’s idolatry and unfaithfulness to God.

This is a disturbing text it reveals Christ as God’s arsonist!  Christ the instigator of division.  Could it be a mixture of frustration and stress? 

Jesus turns his face toward Jerusalem.

The second major theme of Luke is that ‘Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem.’  In fact a careful reading of this gospel shows that it is indeed a countdown to Jerusalem.  Jesus is resolute about his mission – namely the cross.  Here he is frustrated and distressed because his followers don’t get it.  They are hung up on petty arguments as to who is the greatest and who will rule in God’s kingdom.

The Greek word used to describe Jesus in stress the word, ‘syn-echo,’ has several meanings that reveal Christ’s state: distressed, holding tightly, squeezing.  Christ is holding tightly to the mission – the way of the cross.

He is undaunted in his focus on God’s call.

So today’s gospel is a call to a radical allegiance.  Let those things that get in the way of following Christ and pursuing the Kingdom of God be burned away.  Be immersed in the baptism of Jesus – losing self to find self.

It is that reversal that the less we put ‘self’ at the center the more authentic we become as we center our lives in God.

Christ as God’s arsonist – a crazy title for a sermon, but it may be useful.

Frank Ramirez, a pastor of the Church of the Brethren, tells this story:

A friend of mine, a fellow pastor, was awakened by a phone call in the middle of the night to tell her that the church was burning down.

                                                                                      

Everything, the old records, the photographs, the treasured furniture donated by saints of ancient memory, every item of sentimental value was lost.  As she stood there with church members in shock and grieving, she was approached by a fellow clergy – a priest whose church had burned down a few years before.  He said something she needed to hear – that if she showed leadership, this could be the best thing that ever happened to the church.  It was hard to hear, but it proved true, as the congregation went through intentional self-study about goals and mission.

When voting on whether to rebuild on the original site or find a new place they discovered they were almost evenly split.  They saw this as a sign that they needed to work harder in prayer and self-study.

A few months later, with an almost unanimous vote, they chose to move away from their land-locked site to a new, airy field where they could rebuild on one level, rethink their commitment to the struggling suffering, and start anew.  The congregation has since thrived.

This is not an invitation to burn down the church, but to ask what is it that we need to leave behind.  What is preventing us from moving forward in faith where God is leading?

[Source:  Awaken The Art of Imaginative Preaching – Pentecost 1, 2013, Year C, page 55]

That is what Jesus is challenging us with this morning.  What is it that we need to leave behind in order to move forward in faith where God is leading? 

Allegiance to Christ often sets us against the status quo and the powers in our world.   When we, like Christ, champion the poor and outcast and seek God’s justice in our world there will be fire and there will be division.  After all Jesus was not executed for being mister milk toast nice guy, or cow-towing to the political whims of rulers.

Jesus stood with the lowly of his time.  He took on the powers that would maintain the status quo.  He unveiled the fallacy of their unjust ways.

Where are the Kings and Caesars today? 

The movement inaugurated by the burning compassion of Christ continues to this day.  Dying for one’s cause is better than killing others for it.  And we see what happened to Christ:  God raised Christ on that third day to show the world God’s new way.

The burning passion of Christ created the church – the body of Christ. 

Let us catch the Spirit of the passionate Christ, be open to God’s call and boldly follow.

Amen