Sermon Luke 12:49-56

It's been a hot summer. More than a few of us were not prepared for the record levels of heat this summer. All across the world it's been a hot summer.

And in this mornings Gospel, we see Jesus turning up the heat as well. Jesus says, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!"

As Jesus stands on the hillside speaking, I can see the disciples shift from one foot to another, and glance sideways at each other. "Hmmmm" this sounds more like John the Baptist than Jesus ... But Jesus continues speaking passionately ... "I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

As Jesus continues to speak he turns his direction to us with a question ... "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three, they will be divided."

Wwwwait a second Jesus ... what about all those Christmas Carols where you are called the Prince of Peace ... what about your promise of giving us peace?

All this talk about Jesus bringing division and breaking up families ... What then are we to make of all this fire and division talk from Jesus.

Fire is a powerful image ... fire can symbolize transformation, punishment, cleansing, the presence of God ... God is like a fire ...fire is a powerful image. We still use fire imagery ... look here ... we light a little fire to symbolize the presence of Christ in this community ...

Yet, a little fire would not do justice with the words that Jesus speaks to us today. We would need a bonfire up here on the chancel to get close to this image that Jesus paints ... perhaps that would not even do for the strength of Jesus words ...

This is strong imagery, I can just imagine someone painting a passionate Jesus holding a torch, {Imagine coming into a church as looking up here and instead of a picture of Jesus kicking on a door ... we see Jesus lighting the house on fire ...} ... most of us would be disturbed by the image .... yet Jesus words today paint a powerful disturbing image about his mission ... an image which says that something powerful is connected with Jesus ... something that will change everything ... and this fire of change has something to do with baptism ...

He says "I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed."

Now we are not use to baptism being stressful ... each month we see children and sometimes adults enter into the church ... into the body of Christ through baptism ... it is a happy occasion most times ... and except for some stage fright or anxiety over babies crying we are not overly stressful ...

But Jesus shouts out his words ... he is concerned about his coming baptism ... But wait a second! Hasn't Jesus already been baptized? This is the middle of Luke's Gospel ... chapter 12 ... Jesus has already been baptized with water by John the Baptist ... so what other baptism does Jesus face ... what baptism of fire does he face?

If we flip ahead in Luke we see where Jesus is headed ... he is on the road to Jerusalem ... on the road towards the holy city ... towards the centre of power ... towards his own death ...he knows that there he will face the cross ... to die a shameful death as a condemned criminal ... that it the baptism that Jesus will face ... And this baptism will ignite the fire of the Gospel to the whole earth ... and he knows what it will bring ... it will bring division throughout the whole world ... right down into our own families ...

Perhaps this is not something we think about when we baptize our children. We don't think that baptism will lead to division. For many baptism has become sort of a quaint ceremony ... something to celebrate the new addition into our families ... and indeed it is a celebration ... but baptism is profoundly more than that ... since baptism will bring conflict and division ... and this seems like an odd idea to many ...

Yet, as we heard in our reading from the letter to the Hebrew's... baptism in the time of the early church had life threatening consequences ... baptism meant persecution, torture, jail, dying a violent death, like being stoned or thrown to the lions. Being baptized into Christ has often meant that we face hostility of society around us. Often, the Gospel's message of justice and healing is met with hostility. And not even around us ... but even division in our own home ... in the circle of our lives.

But how is this so ... I haven't heard of to many stonings here on the lower mainland have you? ... certainly many Christians in China, Northern India, Sudan, or a number of other places in the world face the possibility that baptism may be a violent death .... yet even though we don't face these concerns ...baptism also means division for us ... But how can our baptisms lead to division and conflict in our lives?

Let's look at the message that Jesus proclaimed ... perhaps that will give us one of the clues to how baptism leads to division ...

Jesus came to proclaim the Kingdom of God ... The kingdom of God is characterized by reconciliation and peace. Where the Kingdom comes, there is healing, new life and peace. This is why we call Jesus the Prince of Peace. For Jesus does bring peace and healing to our lives ... BUT when he comes to announce the kingdom there is also division. There is division because the kingdom requires decision and commitment.

The Kingdom calls forth a commitment ... and commitment leads to change. And change brings resistance and division. When we commit our lives or the lives of our Children to the Kingdom of Christ ... we set them on a road of change ... on a road that is contrary to what others see as good or right ... when we commit ourselves to Christ our live's change. We can not have one foot on one on another road ... we must choose what we value most. And ss we commit our lives more and more to Christ ... our lives change direction ... most importantly our lives change in the direction of sharing in the world's suffering ... if we choose to follow Jesus we eventually come to share the way of the cross ... this causes our lives change in many ways ...

As we follow the teachings of Christ, sometimes our friendships change. Our lives head in a direction that some or even all of our friends choose not to follow. Friendship's some times fade quietly or sometimes end in conflict ... "your just not who you use to be.", ... and we answer ... No I'm not ... I follow in the way of Christ now."

Sometimes romantic relationships end over Christian faith. One person realizes, that even though they have love for their partner, that they are not heading in the same direction. That it is better to as Howard Thurman once said, "Find someone who is headed in the same direction." Sometimes our baptism means the hardship of ended relationships.

Yet, sometimes we do not realize the importance of our baptisms until after we are married. Or when we have children. Our partner just doesn't understand why Sunday morning is so important, or why sharing time with events at the church is important, or why our interests and priorities have changed ...they do not understand why the Church's mission is important ... they do not understand our commitment ... heaven forbid if the topic of tithing was raised ... WHAT! 10% to the Church are you nuts!... that sure would start a fire in some households eh ... living in a divided household can be a difficult road ... perhaps this is why Jesus shows such concern for such a situation this morning ...

Yet, not only does baptism mean changes in relationships with others. It also creates division and conflict within ourselves. As we struggle to remain faithful to the teachings of Christ ... the patterns of our lives are challenged ... when we face this challenge ... when we look at our lives in light of the Gospel we make changes to bring our lives as best we can into harmony with Christ's message. Or do we? Do we examine our lives?

In this mornings Gospel reading Jesus challenges us to look as closely at our lives as we do at the weather. The crowd in Jesus time, being farmers in a desert country, watched the skies like hawks. They watched the skies because their crops needed the precious and scarce water. Jesus challenges us to examine our lives as close as we examine that which is most precious to us.

Now, we are not big sky watchers ... the sky is not a great indicator of our perceived security ... we look elsewhere for our security ...our society has become stock market watchers ... over the last few weeks, those wealthy enough to have stocks, watch with concern ... I noticed that some TV channels even had a little box in the corner of the screen showing the various stock markets ... was the TSE up or down ... how is that DOW doing ... how's the dollar ...

And Jesus this morning calls us to examine our lives with this much scrutiny. To examine our lives to see if we are living towards the Kingdom of God or against it. Are our lives a force for healing and reconciliation in the world? Where do we need to change? What needs to be explored? What do we need to learn in order to follow Christ better? How are we sharing in suffering of the world?

For in following Christ, that is what we are called to do. We are called to share in the blessings of God's mission of healing, justice and reconciliation. When we invest our lives in the Kingdom of God the returns for all of us and for others are beyond our imagining ... We are to give our lives away to the Jesus way of the cross ... in doing so we find our lives ... we find who we are called to be ...

The way of cross which is something that unbelievers see as at best something foolish ... or at worst it is seen as something that is dangerous ... and both are true ... through our baptisms we share in the foolish love of God ... a love willing to endure the cross for our sake ... and through our baptism we share in the dangerous mission of God to challenge systems of oppression and the struggle to bring reconciliation, justice and healing to a broken world ... this is what our lives are about.

Sermon Luke 12:49-56
by James Love