Reflection on Luke 12:49-56

 

Luke 12:49-56

[Jesus said:] 49 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided:

father against son 

and son against father,  

mother against daughter 

and daughter against mother,  

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law 

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

 54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain,’ and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Reflection

If you have worked a job for any amount of time you soon discover that people love to tell you how to do your job. It does not matter if they know anything about your job or not, they still love to tell you how to do it.  I have to say that being a pastor is no different. People love to tell their pastors how to preach.  They love to tell pastors what to say, what not to say, and how loud it needs to be said.  Once at the Personal Care home a resident asked if I could speak louder because their hearing aid had broken.  Not ten seconds later someone else asked if I could please speak quieter, the noise was giving them a headache.  People love to tell you how to do your job.

But, when a thin, old gentleman in my internship congregation approached me and asked me to please not preach about the fires of hell; that was a little different.

You see, this man was a retired military physicist, who was instrumental in the development and testing of the nation’s first nuclear weapons.  First, I have to say, that was amazing to me.  You never know who will cross your life’s path.  Right there in front of me stood a living piece of history.  And, he shared some of that history.  He shared about how he was present on those atolls in the Pacific Ocean as nuclear weapons were detonated in flashes of light and fire so bright that he could see the bones and blood vessels clearly in his hands as they covered his eyes from the blinding sight.  He also quietly shared what he really wanted to talk about: how he helped develop a weapon that would soon kill innocent people.  He talked about how he was a part of the shameful act of placing soldiers in harm’s way in order to document the affects of the weapons on human beings.  To be fare, he put himself in that vulnerable position as well.  But, that did not alleviate the guilt.

“You do not need to preach hell and fire to me, Intern Jira.  I know all about it.  I lived in it.  I helped to create it.  I helped to develop a type of fiery destruction that should have never been created in the first place.”

The man did not need some cocky young intern threatening him with a fiery hell when he had already been there; when he had helped to create it!  He desired to hear a word from the pulpit that talked about creating life rather than taking it away.  He desired to hear about a world that could be transformed from developing bombs of death to developing actions that create life and love.

Jesus shares that very desire.  You can hear Jesus’ fidgety anticipation of a better world as he talks about casting down fire.  “How I wish it were already ablaze!” he remarks to stunned listeners (Luke 12:49, NRSVue).  It is almost a “burn it all down” mentality, but with an eye for what could come afterward.

“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze!  I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!” (Luke 12:49-50).

Did you notice what Jesus desires to come to all the earth?  It is a Baptism of fire that he desires, not a fire of destruction.  Baptism is something you go through to start something new.  It is a doorway into a new way of life.  It is the doorway into a kingdom.

You see, much to the confusion of many hellfire and damnation preachers, whenever Jesus talks about the fire that he brings, he is not talking about total destruction and damnation.  He is not a heavenly anarchist.  He is not an angry rioter seeking only to destroy but refusing to repair after.  The fire that Jesus desires to bring down on us is far different.

Let us take a look at some of the biblical images that Jesus would have grown up with to help us get a sense of what he is getting at here.  The first one that comes to mind comes from Proverbs.

“The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold,

but the Lord tests the heart” (Proverbs 17:3).

So, in the Bible there is this clear connection between putting precious metals into a fire and our hearts being put to the test by the Lord.  Somehow, both are burned for a purpose.  Now, to understand that purpose, we will want to jump over to Malachi.

“[The Lord’s messenger] will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3).

All of this purifying has something to do with a substance called dross.  Does anyone know what dross is?  Dross is the term used to describe the impurities in gold and silver that bubble up to the top when stoking the fires and melting the metals. When a goldsmith refines gold, desiring it to be purer and more brilliant, the goldsmith allows that dross to come to the surface of the molten gold.  Then the goldsmith either scoops away or burns off the dross until he or she can look down at the surface of the gold and can see his or her own face reflected back.

And, that is what the fire of God does to us.  It does not burn us in some game where the loser gets eternal punishment.  Rather, God’s fire is intended to refine us; burning away all of our impurities and sin until God can finally look at us and see God’s face reflect back.

To become a kingdom of God’s people, Jesus needs to put us through the fire.  We need to be forgiven and refined by the fire of Jesus’ Spirit, so that when Jesus looks at us, all he sees reflected is his own heavenly love and desire for goodness.

And, when we are put through the fires by the Lord, when we are put to the test, when the impurities are burned away, we join in the same faith experience as other faithful people such as Moses as he approached the Lord on the Mount Sinai.  When you read the account of Moses’ ascent up the holy mountain, you read:

“Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites.” (Exodus 24:17). 

And, then you read that Moses enters through that fiery cloud to stand before God, in order to receive the commandments; in order to hear God’s desires for the world. 

So, in the Bible, if you want to be a part of God’s love and desires for the world, which I assume most of us do, the old self needs to be burned away.  It needs to be refined like gold with the dross being scooped or burned away. 

To enter back into the Garden of Eden, to enter into the kingdom of God so that you can walk and talk with God once again, you will need to be pulled through those flaming swords guarding the entrance to the kingdom just as Moses had to pass through the fire.

And, Jesus cannot wait for that to happen, because he knows that the world on the other side of the flames is so, so good.

And, just in case you have a passing thought that pastors like me just make all of this stuff up, we will take a look at the Apostle Paul and see how he interprets these biblical themes of fire that Jesus teaches.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about how he laid down a foundation, a solid floor, for his congregation.  The foundation is Jesus.  Through God’s grace, Paul gave his congregation in Corinth the foundation of Jesus.  After being given that foundation of Jesus, those of us standing on that solid foundation build our lives of faith on top.   Now, listen to how he describes what happens then.  He says that,

“No one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If the work that someone has built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a wage. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:11-16).

By the grace of God you have been given the foundation of Jesus Christ.  And, that foundation cannot be taken away.  Paul says that no one can lay another foundation.  You stand on the love of Jesus, because Jesus wants you to be standing there.  That is a pure gift and there is nothing to do about it except to give thanks to the Lord. 

However, whatever sort of life we build on top of that foundation will either fit the foundation well, or it will be inappropriate.  And, how do we know if the life we have built on Christ matches of the foundation of grace and forgiveness that we have been given?  You guessed it.  Fire!  Tests!  Challenges!  And, if the faith life we have built survives, it is very good.  But, if not, it is all burned away, and the weakness of our lives will be no more.  We will suffer the loss of the false lives and false hopes and false aspirations that we have built, but as Paul promises, “the builder will be saved;” refined by the fire (1 Corinthians 3:15).  Then, reflecting Jesus once again we can build something better; a life that reflects the face of Jesus.

“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze!  I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!” (Luke 12:49-50).

Far from a fire of destruction, Jesus casts on us a fire of baptism, a fire of new starts, a fire of new life and new things.  Goldsmiths refine gold, burning the dross away until he or she can see their face. We are refined until God can see God’s face reflect back.

And, that means we can expect to have our lives constantly be changed by Jesus, refined over and over again so that we can continually reflect the face of Jesus. 

Now, some people will not be able to go with us on that road of refinement; not yet anyway.  Jesus warns us that walking in his ways and loving and serving people will cause division in our lives.  Some people will not be able to forgive.  Some people will not be able to love whoever they deem as their enemy.  Some people do not want to give up grudges and preconceptions they have of others.  And, it will cause divisions; close divisions with those we love.  

“From now on” Jesus says,

“five in one household will be divided,

three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son 

and son against father,  

mother against daughter 

and daughter against mother,  

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law 

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (Luke 12:52-53).

I do not know if you noticed the generational split here between those who were refined by the fire and those who did not let God’s fire touch their lives.  A father and mother will take a stand against a son, daughter, and daughter-in-law.  They will no longer see eye to eye as to how the world should look.  Now, Jesus does not say which generation in this scenario cannot accept the world as Jesus sees it, older or younger.  But, what I do know is that the only way for either generation to stand on the foundation of Jesus’ life and Jesus’ priorities is to allow Jesus to burn their old lives away. 

Jesus cannot wait for our hatreds to be burned away.  Jesus anxiously anticipates the day when our enemies can become neighbors.  Jesus desires more than anything for us to be gathered closer together as created beings, not pushed further apart.

So, let us take some time to allow those hatreds and problems to be burned and refined.  I am going to take you through an experience of guided imagery that, hopefully, will allow the Spirit to burn away within you whatever is made of sticks and straw, so that only the pure reflection of God will be left behind.

Sit straight and comfortably and close your eyes.

Take three deep, cleansing breaths.

Relax any tension in your neck and shoulders.

Allow the tension in your arms and legs to exit through the fingers and toes.

And, envision yourself in a warm and comforting place.

It is the place Jesus has prepared for you.

Look around at all that makes this place warm and comforting.

Feel the warn light of Jesus on your face.

Feel how the peace that Jesus hands your way relaxes your body and soul.

Now, reach out and grab that warmth and peace, like a soft cloud, and hug it close.

Allow your mind to wander among faces of people you know, people who could use some of that warmth and peace that you hug close.

Now focus on the one face among the many with whom you are divided and with whom you have conflict.

Look at them.  Study their face.  Stare into their eyes.  See them as God sees them.

Now, share a piece of that cloud of warmth and peace with that person.

As they wander from you, hugging that gift of warmth and peace that you gave them, that warmth and peace that Jesus gave to you, say a prayer for them.

Sometimes a burning, refining fire is the same thing as Jesus’ warmth and peace, and we are made pure by Jesus when we share.