We really don’t like the idea of Jesus bringing division. But we like what he actually means by it even less.
Jesus gives us a vision of hope
Proper 15C | Luke 12:49-56
What is going on with Jesus? He’s talking about fire, swords, dividing families. It is hard to not get nervous here. Because none of this sounds like the Jesus we know.
And I want to emphasize this: we know Jesus. Like we know parents and spouses and BFFs. We know him deeply. And we always want to know him better.
We can love someone with all our heart and know them completely and yet still learn more. It seems illogical, I know, but also…right, doesn’t it? Knowing deeply and still learning and going even deeper.
So we have this insane moment with Jesus that feels like someone has taken over his body, saying things that Jesus would never say. It is incredibly confusing.
What is going on here?
Last week we talked about another confusing passage. One that made more sense when we acknowledged its context. A context that includes Jesus showing his followers the injustice they tolerate and then warns them to act immediately.
Throughout this chapter of Luke, chapter 12, Jesus tells three parables in a row about urgency, not waiting, but preparing now for what might be. Parables that, frankly, unsettle us in the reading. In fact, they seem made to cause some level of fear and anxiety in the hearing so that we’ll perceive the real stakes and realize that it is actually a command.
Jesus says in no uncertain terms: You don’t want the treasures of earth—you want what heaven has to offer!
That’s when Peter tries to get some clarification:
“Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?”
-Luke 12:41
And Jesus responds with another dark parable that ramps up to this moment:
“I came to bring fire…”
They have clarity.
This is what Jesus is trying to tell them. Remind them. They really do know. They just don’t want to believe it. Or face it. Or deal with it.
Confusion isn’t the same as a lack of clarity!
We don’t look at Peter’s response and think “Man, what a stupid question!”
We think “He’s just looking to make sure. Get on the same page with Jesus.”
Or
“He’s double-checking. Which is smart. Measure twice, cut once.”
Or
“That seems like a reasonable question. Especially when we aren’t sure.”
But Jesus doesn’t. He doesn’t see reasonable, clear communication to make sure they’re on the same page.
He sees a student who has been in class, who knows what’s what, not doing his homework. Trying to get the teacher to give him the answer.
So Jesus says two things.
- I didn’t come to avoid conflict, confusion, and separation. I came to a conflicted, confused, and separated people. And what I offer them is change. And a lot of the people who love the people who love me, don’t want that change. So for them, change divides.
- Stop pretending you’re confused. If you can be confident in looking at storm clouds and predicting rain, you can be confident in looking at your community and predicting where it’s going.
Jesus says these things because Peter is himself working out two things:
- Where he (and the others) fits in the big picture.
- Where Jesus fits in the big picture.
In one sense, he’s just double-checking his marching orders. But in the other, he’s sizing up Jesus’s marching orders. So either he asks a question he knows the answer to or else he asks a question that is way above his pay grade. To get certainty on something he’s asked to believe.
Jesus isn’t offering certainty.
Certainty is the stuff of wars and division, of borders and armies, of self-preservation and greed. The stuff that we hoard, protect, and scheme about.
Certainty is the stuff of hierarchies, power, and control. It’s the means of demanding authority and allegiance.
And yet we treat certainty as a way we can resolve confusion. That if we can find some outward measure of certainty, that will drive the fear away. If we can just be sure of things, then the fog of confusion will dissipate.
But certainty isn’t something we have before belief. So it isn’t what drives the fog of confusion away. In pursuing it, assuming the certain answer will save us, we often stay lost!
Choosing the right answer before we’re certain is the way out.
Jesus offers grace anyhow.
I’m not certain that you feel as confused and frustrated with the way things are as I do. But I know you do. Because I can read the signs of the time.
And I can see how confused and divided we feel. And how naturally divided we are.
I can long for unity. An end to division. Hope for a more connected future.
But I also don’t think I am the source of all division. Or all unity. None of that depends on me. It doesn’t depend on God either. God doesn’t create or encourage division for the sake of division.
God invites us to change. To seize the opportunity to be made new. And a lot of us would rather we didn’t. We’d rather avoid changing. We’re confident that we’re right.
But isn’t confidence the point?! Yes it is! But not if our confidence is in an unchanging God when Scripture reveals a constantly changing and growing God.
And not if our confidence is in an unchanging world when evolution and climate change reveal a constantly changing creation.
And most definitely not if our confidence is in an unchanging reality when those supposedly predictable patterns never actually line up with our reality.
It feels like we demand certainty of all things like a customer in a restaurant. We send the food back because it isn’t what we ordered. Or it’s too seasoned. Or cold. It’s never right. It tastes different than last time. We’re certain it should taste the same as it does in our imagination. And we’re mad when it doesn’t.
We think we are the only thing that can change!
Aren’t we crazy? And we know better. We know it makes no sense. And we know Jesus teaches us to turn and learn and follow this better path toward hope and love and grace in faith. We think we’re confused. But we’re not.
Jesus knows we aren’t confused.
We know where we are. And we know the way. It’s all just fear. We’re scared.
Scared to do the right thing
Change
Become
Grow
Be wrong
Fail
Try new things
Succeed
Learn
Or even see that the world really is open to incredible possibilities. That our love really can change the world. Our hope in the midst of chaos and division can lead to new breakthroughs. That we can be made completely new by the grace of God.
If we read the signs in our lives, we can even find new confidence in what that grace really means.
That we already live by hope.
We wake up to a new day. Knowing so much is predictable. And yet nothing is truly certain.
We make breakfast. Shower. Put on clothes. Prepare. And then…
People. Other people. Out there. Doing the same. Each of them had breakfast and started their day. Not the same, yet also all the same.
We sit in traffic. Or not. Or not as much. We greet baristas who hand us coffee or we remember the people whose work brought those magic beans to our supermarkets. We go to work or turn on TVs or computers and we encounter the same:
People. We’re all the same and yet all unique.
And each of us changes and we all change. The world changes.
But we can choose how much agency we want. How much we get to change. And how much we are changed. We choose how much we do.
And none of this comes from certainty. It all comes from hope. It comes from the foolish belief that we can make a difference when we’d rather let someone else worry about it. Believing that we can be the change. And Jesus believes we can.