Proper 15C (18-19 Aug 2007)

Luke 12:49-56

Pr. George L. Murphy

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Akron OH

JESUS THE ARSONIST?

Should a sermon on this text be titled “Jesus the Arsonist?” It might seem appropriate. “I have come to cast fire on the earth,” he says. He’s going to set the world ablaze. He goes on to talk about a flood, about being overwhelmed – that’s what “baptism” means here. Then “I have come to bring division,” and he talks about members of a family being set against one another. This is disturbing language, like what we hear all too often today from holy warriors and nihilists, people who are either going to destroy the world or rule it. “When we take our leave, earth will tremble,” said Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propagandist, near the end of World War II.

But this isn’t a Nazi! It’s Jesus, the one who’s supposed to be all about peace. He is the Prince of Peace. “My peace I leave with you.” “Love your enemies.” So when we hear this talk about destruction and division we want to challenge Jesus. Why are you talking about these things?

The point, however, is not for us to challenge Jesus. This is Jesus’ challenge to us. “You can figure out the signs of the weather and know when a storm is coming,” he says. “Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” Why don’t you understand the meaning of what you see, and of the coming fire and flood and quarrels?

Jesus came to bring peace and to proclaim it, but what if people don’t accept that gift? Jesus announced the nearness of the kingdom of God, that kingdom in which, as the Prayer Book says, “no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love.” But what if people don’t want the peaceable kingdom? What then? How will there be peace?

Jesus’ message calls for decision. There is, in one sense of the word, a crisis – people have to go one way or the other. Jesus’ very presence, who he is, provokes a crisis. You have to be for or against. “Whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters,” he said in the previous chapter of Luke. What Jesus means by “interpret[ing] the present time” is recognizing the time of decision and making the right decision. Of course you can ignore the question or put your decision off till later, but that means you reject him today.

And some say yes and some no, so there is tension, strife, and divisions in families and society. The religious people of Jesus’ culture had their own version of righteousness and their vision for the future, and most of them didn’t want what Jesus offered. Roman imperial power already had the kingdom of the world and had no need for this “kingdom of God” that Jesus spoke of. So the world was set ablaze.

But in answer to the question I posed at the beginning, Jesus is not an arsonist who sets a torch to the building and then just stands back to watch the flames. He is first of all the one upon whom the fire of judgment falls. And those words about families being divided – well, Jesus is quoting from the prophet Micah but he could be saying it about himself. We know from the gospels that Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in him. We’re told at one point that his family came to try to get him and take him back home because they thought he was crazy. Jesus is overwhelmed by all of this - “the torrents of perdition assailed me.” He is rejected and abandoned, and his baptism by fire is the cross.

The time of decision, the crisis, for people in the gospel was two thousand years ago. But Jesus’ challenge to us is still “Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” It’s not about some time in the past. The crisis for us is today - and I mean now. The problem with a lot of Christian evangelism is its implication that a “decision for Jesus” is just a one-time thing that happens at some special “born again” moment. There may be a dramatic time of conversion for some people. But whether you’ve had that kind of experience or not, you are called to a decision each day.

On the one hand, the world and our culture push us to think that we can validate our own lives and make them worthwhile by our own good qualities and hard work, and that if we don’t succeed then there’s no hope for us. The basic motto might be “God helps them that help themselves.” It’s significant that a lot of people expect to find that in the Bible while in reality it’s from Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac – which shows how deeply rooted in American thought it is. God, or the forces of history, or the free market, or however you want to say it, will reward you if you’re good, and punish you or just leave you at the side of the road if you’re not.

“It’s a dog eat dog world” – we have lots of slogans like that. Ads, TV shows, and the whole cultural atmosphere, tell us that we can have it all, and if we don’t, it’s our fault. At the same time there are the realities of war, and a broken health care system, and the environment and the economy that we have little if any control over. And if you expect to have it all and come to the end of your life and find that you haven’t had much, what then?

On the other hand there is the message of Christ, what Saint Paul calls “the word of the cross.” It calls us to realize that we’re not just fine virtuous people who can validate our own lives. You may have suspected that in those dark nights of the soul when you know your own failings and sins, and at those times when you’re overwhelmed and the world seems against you. The word of the cross is that God is present with us in those times and indeed in all times, those of failure or of success. And you have all the validation you need for your life because God gives our lives validity and value, making us righteous people by covering us with the righteousness of Christ. We are given hope for the future because the Christ who is crucified is the Christ who is risen.

There is a glittery promise that often ends in despair. And there is a gritty, down to earth, word of the cross that leads to life. Those are your choices, today and every day. Choose life.