By Fr Eugene Lobo SJ –
Twentieth Sunday of the year August 14, 2022
Jer. 38:1-2, 4-6, 8-10; Heb. 12:1-4; Luke. 12:49-53
During his public ministry Jesus announced that he has come to establish the Kingdom of God and told people that it is here and now. He invited every person to be part of this Kingdom, to be signs of unity and harmony in him. The Church is the external expression of the Kingdom. It needs deep insight and grace to accept his invitation of Jesus. The recognition and faith bring us closer to Jesus and to his Eucharistic banquet. Christ revealed his desire to give his life for us and describes it as a “baptism”; for he will rise victorious over sin and death and will never die again. In our baptism, we are submerged into his death and by it we die to sin and are reborn to a life of grace. In our Christian lives, we have to accept what is spiritual and pleasing to God, rejecting what is sinful and offensive to Him. Christ wants his burning love to catch in us so we have the same passion and zeal for the Gospel and for the will of God that he did. He wants his message to reach all men and we are his messengers. The Readings of today invite us to consider the struggle and difficulty inherent in being a Christian. The path of following Christ is one of contradiction and difficulty in every time and place, because we are living without complete authenticity as a follower of Christ.
The passage from the prophet Jeremiah in our first reading gives a glimpse of his sufferings in the days before Jerusalem was conquered. God had given him a message for the king that was sadly disregarded and tragedy would follow with the fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent deportation of the Israelites to Babylon for two generations. Jeremiah, like many of the prophets was frequently persecuted during his lifetime. Those persons of authority did not appreciate hearing the Word of God that was being prophesied through the mouth of Jeremiah.
Our second reading from the letter to the Hebrews hints at the type of ‘fire’ that Jesus hopes to ignite on the earth. The Letter reminds the early Christians of what an authentic Christian life consists in, and that even Jesus had to endure opposition and suffering to be faithful to the will of his heavenly Father. The author of this letter reminds the community not to lose sight of Jesus, to remain steadfast, and not to become discouraged in their commitments to his teaching, promising that through faithfulness divine reward will be granted. This passage is clearly encouraging the new converts to reject their previous way of life in favour of a life in Christ.
In today’s gospel, Jesus the Prince of peace invites his disciples, to a holy war against sin and evil forces. The message of Jesus brings love, compassion, harmony, peace. It brings people together so that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male or female… But it also of its nature challenges injustice, corruption, discrimination, abuse, dishonesty, and all attacks on human dignity. The saying that Jesus has come to set the earth on fire, and bring division instead of peace, has been understood in several ways by Christians and non-Christians. Fire is the sign of purification. John had promised that Jesus would baptize with Holy Spirit and fire. Fire is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and His actions of being a consuming fire as God. The ministry of Jesus on earth included preparing the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier.
The Spirit of Jesus is given to all freely who choose to follow him through baptism. This is a fire planted within us to guide us, to direct us, and to admonish us when we deviate from the path; a living flame which, throughout our lives, purges us of that which may hold us back from unity with God. In this sense, the fire of Jesus that lives in each of us helps to mould us and shape us into what we are meant to become, a heat that warms our hearts encouraging us to continue the work of Jesus today. Through Jesus, this fire is given to us to maintain and is thus no longer the sole possession of the God of the universe, the God of the Old Testament. God lives within the disciples of Jesus giving us the power to be more than the facility of our humanity could ever allow us to be without God.
Jesus came into the world as a person of peace. He came to a world which prefers darkness to light, a world that is inhabited by people who prefer lies to truth. It is a world in which good and bad inhabit together; where those who call themselves the children of God lord it over others; where injustice and oppression are compromised by political and religious leaders. The process of sanctifying the world through the institution of the invisible Kingdom of God on earth that is seen through the visible Body of Christ is one that creates division. The household will be divided, three against two and two against three. It is because some will resist the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit, choosing worldly fame, the pleasures of the flesh, and wealth.
When Jesus came into this world, he was not welcome (John 1:12) because he taught a new way of living and looking at the world which involved turning away from sin and selfishness and living for God. This way of life taught by Jesus does not come easy without cost. This way of living, Jesus warns his disciples, will result in being rejected by others, including close friends and even family members. When Jesus said he has not come to bring peace, he is referring to the peace that was invoked than in his time; the peace that was the product of war and compromise; where injustice and oppression prevailed. As a matter of fact, Jesus is not opposed to peace. Instead, Jesus is the prince of peace; he came to establish peace that comes from forgiveness.
On the other hand, when he said that he had come to bring division, he was talking about the division that his message would bring between those who accept it and those who reject it; between the righteous and unrighteous. As a result of this division: “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,” By this he indicates that the message would divide families between those who would accept the message and those who would reject it. Rather than advocating violence, Jesus was warning his disciples that they would encounter violence from those unwilling to accept the Truth.
Therefore, the holy war to which Christ calls us is not a war against people of certain nationalities or cultures, creeds or ideologies, but a war in which we first have to identify the forces for evil in our own persons and in the persons of those who are dear to us (father, son, mother, daughter, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law) and then declare and the uncompromising war against these forces. In so doing, Jesus redefines family as those who follow the same divine purpose and no longer those who share the same name or address. This is what Jesus meant when he said: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters”. As disciples, our commitment is to follow Jesus and to enter fully into his struggle to repair the world and to restore ourselves and others to the right relationships.
So until Jesus comes again to definitively and universally establish the reign and peace of God, the spectre of division will confront those who follow him. Faced with this abiding challenge, it is put upon the community of faith to struggle with the paradox that those who work for God’s peace will also be the occasion of conflict and division. It devolves to us today as members of Christ’s Body to examine the level of comfort or challenge with which we bear witness toward each other and the world.
It happened several years ago in the Paris opera house. A famous singer had been contracted to sing, and ticket sales were booming. In fact, the night of the concert found the house packed and every ticket sold. The feeling of anticipation and excitement was in the air as the house manager took the stage and said, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your enthusiastic support. I am afraid that due to illness, the man whom you’ve all come to hear will not be performing tonight. However, we have found a suitable substitute we hope will provide you with comparable entertainment. The crowd groaned in disappointment and failed to hear the announcer mention the stand-in’s name. The environment turned from excitement to frustration. The stand-in performer gave the performance everything he had. When he had finished, there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence. No one applauded. Suddenly, from the balcony, a little boy stood up and shouted, Daddy, I think you are wonderful! The crowd broke into thunderous applause. We all need people in our lives that are willing to stand up once in a while and say, I think you are wonderful.