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 how 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; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Well, did you come to church expecting to hear that?
In the gospel last week, we heard Jesus speak some really beautiful words. He said, "Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” And if you were here last week, you may remember that in my homily, I listed 98 things that I treasure in my life. (If you weren't here, you might now be either glad or sorry that you weren't!) I listed those things and spoke of my hope that as I stand before God, those treasures in my heart will be worthy of God. Beautiful imagery!
But then in this week’s gospel - the same chapter of Luke, in the same sermon - Jesus roars, "I have come to set fire to the earth. Do you think I came to establish peace? No, I came for division.” Who IS this Jesus? What's he TELLING us? What does he MEAN?
He means that if we take him at his Word; if we try to take seriously the inexhaustible treasure of the wisdom of his word; if we try to take his word to our hearts - and endeavor to live out that word in our words and deeds. If we do all of that, then there are going to be people who misunderstand us; people who don't get what we're all about; people who think we're fools; people who think we’re deluded and impractical; people who think we're deaf and blind to reality - that we're naive, gullible, and stupid.
Who among us who wants to be thought of in those terms? Who among us wants to be discounted or rejected as - foolish?
The gospel here, Jesus here, calls us to consider how often you and I are quiet about our faith. How often we're slow to reveal who we are and what we believe as Christians: slow to speak about or to share with others our relationship with Jesus. How often we fail to bring our beliefs into conversations with families and friends. How often we fail to allow what we believe to inform and shape, impact and change, our own points of view, our attitudes, our political stances, our social constructs.
How often are we sometimes quiet about our faith - for fear of being misunderstood by others, for fear of being ridiculed or rejected or dismissed. OR… are we sometimes quiet about our faith, even within ourselves, because we sense, we intuit, that taking what we say we believe more seriously might have implications and consequences for us that were reticent or even afraid to countenance, let alone confront or adopt.
What Jesus is saying here is that if we follow him, if we treasure his word, take it to heart - that doing so might jeopardize the ties that bind us to one another - might divide the bonds that ensure our security in the social order, our connectedness with and our acceptance by others. He's teaching us that the Word of God, the word of the gospel, though intended to reconcile and make us one, can also have the effect of dividing us from one another. Division is not Jesus’ mission or purpose, but it may be, and often is, a consequence for those who treasure and take his teaching to heart.
Don't we all experience this dynamic in the contemporary political climate? When Jesus says “From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three…” we know what he means, don't we? It happens in our own families. In our own circle of friends, in our parish.
Consider how careful we are about what we say - and what we keep quiet about; about the topics we bring up - and the topics we don't bring up; what conversations we begin - or won't begin - precisely because we know that there are names and words and issues that might easily divide a household, disrupt a gathering of family and friends, interfere with productivity in the workplace, ruin what could otherwise have been a really nice time for people to get together.
To be clear, when Jesus calls us to follow him and join him, he is not instructing us to become controversial jerks at the dinner table: we do that well enough on our own. Jesus is, at heart, a man of peace and reconciliation - but he's reminding us that division may well be a consequence of his word and mission. But that’s the path he walks - and invites us to walk with him. It is not an easy path, but it is worth the hardship.
Again, to be clear, Jesus is not suggesting that we go out to cause division. But it might be helpful for each of us to ask ourselves, “How and when has my faith and my expression of my faith been strong enough and clear enough that I have bumped up against this consequence of division - because I said out loud what I believe. OR.. do I keep my beliefs kind of under wraps, avoiding conflict? Do I try to maintain peace at all costs - even at the cost of being true to what I say I believe. Do I settle for artificial harmony (the absence of overt conflict) and call that “peace.”
I realize I'm treading here on a terrain that is littered with land mines! In a culture like hours that prizes both tolerance and political correctness. It often seems that all views are to be respected and accepted - except for those views that, well, everybody knows… you're not supposed to accept those views.
It's a tough playing field to which Jesus leads us, and as on any team, each of us is going to have different roles, positions, responsibilities, and assignments. Let me suggest the following is a place where we might begin the work that lies before us.
• At home, at work, at school, with others: strive always to be peaceful - not angry, opinionated, convinced, vengeful, or arrogant - but peaceful in the ways we are faithful to Jesus and his Word and his mission.
• At home, at work, at school with others: strive to live with any division that comes -not by walking away from it - but by bearing patiently the burdens that our faith may lay upon us. As the Letter to the Hebrews reminded us today: “not by growing weary or losing heart, but rather by persevering in running the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus” and on the truth, and the gift and the wisdom of his word.
I'm 78, so I'm old enough to remember the civil rights movement back in the '60s. There were serious human, moral questions on our nation's table and all kinds of reasons were advanced in opposition to, and in support of, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the desegregation of our society.
There was much deep rooted, prejudice, hatred, anger, and violence. But the cause and the day were won by the words of a preacher - who called people, black and white, to come together, to walk side by side, peacefully, and to share his dream.
There were many who thought that this preacher from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta - was a fool; that he was deluded and impractical; deaf and blind to the reality of the United States; and at those who listened to him were naive and gullible.
But Martin Luther King, Jr did not grow weary. He did not lose heart, but rather persevered in running the race that lay before him, keeping his eyes fixed on Jesus.
And he changed the world.
2,000 years ago, people stood at the foot of the cross of Jesus, and they laughed at him, they scorned him, they mocked him, insulted him, and derided him. But for our sakes, he laid down his life so that we might be reconciled to God and to one another - and find and have and live that peace that knows no end.
Pray with me that the Eucharist we celebrate at this altar, the Sacrament of Christ's peace, will nourish us for the work of making peace among ourselves and in our world.
