a homily for Proper 15C
Text: Luke 12:49-56

A stressed-out Jesus

Stress is popping out of Jesus in this text. As much as He may be trying to contain it, He can’t keep it all in. This that He is doing, this baptism of fire, is stressing Him out. He seems to be coming unhinged. He declares that from now on families will be divided.

Parents from children and children from parents.

He is so specific. So agitated.

We should admit that it is troubling. Troubling to imagine Jesus in this way; saying these things. We don’t like it.

OK. I kind of like it. I like it in that it shows Jesus was in fact human. He got stressed and agitated as we do. His temper got a little short. That makes me feel better. I like it as a Christian. But as a preacher, I can’t say it is easy to preach a text about a stressed-out Jesus declaring division among families.

The astute reader will remember that Jesus just finished teaching his disciples about trust and expelling fear and now He seems particularly agitated.

The real problem for us is probably not a stressed Jesus, or even His description of a fiery baptism, though I’m sure that doesn’t reduce our stress level any. It is that declaration of division.

Jesus asks first the question:

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?”

A question we must all say yes to. Even when we read this passage, we still go back to our belief that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and the Great Uniter.

His next words strike like a sword:

“No, I tell you, but rather division!”

 

We aren’t seeking peace?

His followers must have been as confused by Jesus as we are today. How could Jesus not be coming to bring peace? What is the Kingdom of GOD about if it is not about peace?

Those teachings we’ve had the last few weeks have been about trust and living like we’re in the Kingdom already. They’ve been about building our relationships with our neighbors and our brothers and most importantly, with GOD. They’ve been about getting rid of the baggage and the treasures that block our hearts from loving and feeling close to GOD. If we have gotten anything out of this gospel—if we believe anything about Jesus it has to be that He came to reconcile the world to GOD and that He continues to reconcile the world.

How can dividing the world do that?

We have had enough of division, haven’t we? We don’t need Jesus coming to bring us more! We’re dividing ourselves well enough, thank you very much.

One of our favorite excuses is to now preemptively divide ourselves—to break communion with one another because we don’t get our way. We are trusting that Jesus is about reuniting us—bringing us back together rather than to divide us further.

It never occurs to us that Jesus has a different idea of peace and division than ours.

Seeking the Kingdom

For the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about storing treasures. Jesus has been decrying the idea that we would store up stuff rather than trust that GOD is with us. He then compared this with slaves waiting up for their master. He tells His followers that they are to be prepared. Again, our Lectionary skips over a bit of elaboration—Peter asks if Jesus is speaking to them or to everyone. Jesus’s response seems to be growing darker as it leads into this morning’s part about fire and division.

Except that Jesus is actually saying

“Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.”

Peter is confused about Jesus’s intended audience. Jesus responds by saying Anyone who is doing the good work will be blessed. Anyone who isn’t will be punished. But those who know better and still fail to do the work will be punished most severely.

So even His most devoted followers aren’t quite there with Him—which has to be frustrating. But Jesus keeps going. He seems to be saying to them: Can’t you see the signs of division around you? I am here to divide because not everyone trusts me yet. Not everyone loves their enemies yet.

But the signs of division are there because some people are! Some trust and love. Jesus doesn’t bring peace because Jesus is not a moderator, but a liberator. He comes to free us, not maintain an unjust world for the sake of peace. There is no peace as long as people hunger or are abused or lack dignity.

The division Jesus speaks of is not war, but the division of family between those that are willing to trust GOD and those who aren’t. And Jesus calls us to trust GOD. Jesus calls us to change.

Living into Baptism

Jesus divides us by preaching love and grace. That we love our family, our neighbors, and our enemies. That our love and our trust and the grace we receive from GOD will divide us because the world we live in wants us to be jealous and afraid and greedy. It wants us to suspect everyone around us is truly our enemy. To go against our world is divisive. It is political. It is challenging to the status quo.

We are called to a life that isn’t once changed but in constant changing. We are always becoming what GOD dreams we will become. We aren’t baptized in a moment, but living into our baptism.

That is why Jesus speaks to His ministry as a baptism of fire—the companion element to water. The element that not only destroys, but purifies. It creates the elements for new life to grow by enriching the soil. Fire leads to new birth.

This morning we will be celebrating a new birth. We will be participating in the baptism of Emersyn Marie Stone. Her parents and witnesses will make vows on her behalf. And we will promise to do everything in our power to build her up. We are setting her up to live into her baptism.

We don’t do this because there is anything wrong with Emersyn. She’s perfect. We do this because Jesus calls us to a particular life. A life of love and trust. A life that is based in the Kingdom of GOD not the empires of our world.

We’ll do that by playing in the water and affirming our promises. And then we will leave: our heads wet and our hearts kindled.