20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)

Lk 12:49-53

v. 49.  I have come to set the earth on fire.

Recall Lk 3:16. The mention of baptizing with the holy Spirit and with fire may point to the Pentecost event when the Holy Spirit came down upon the community in the form of tongues of fire. In this case, the power of fire and thus, the power of the Holy Spirit may be the one being referred to. However, from the context of the preaching of John the Baptist, he probably was thinking of the purifying and refining characteristics of fire.

Fire is mentioned in the Bible several times to mean other things.

Fire represented the presence of God as in the burning bush (Ex 3:1-4) and the pillar of fire that guided Israel at night (Ex 13:21).

Fire also represented divine punishment. We see this is in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gn 1(:23-24). John the Baptist used the fire imagery for divine punishment (Lk 3:9). In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus used the expression fiery Gehenna for punishment (Mt 5:22).

Purification as symbolized by fire may be a painful process. But in the end the experience of liberation may make the pain worth it.

v. 50. There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished.

In the early church baptism was carried out by means of total immersion. Jesus speaks of his death on the cross as being immersed in suffering.

v. 51. Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

This declaration of Jesus is alarming. It seems to contradict many things in the NT.

The title of Prince of Peace (Is 9:6) was applied to Jesus. The angels greeted his birth by proclaiming peace (Lk 2:14). In the Beatitudes Jesus declared peacemakers as blessed (Mt 5:9). St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians asserted that Christ brought us peace (Eph 2:14). But especially at the last Supper before his passion and death Jesus gave to his disciples his peace, a peace that the world cannot give (Jn 14:27). And when he appeared to them for the first time after his resurrection, he first word was one of peace (Jn 20:19).

And yet at the beginning of his life we already see signs of division as seen in the violence and opposition that Jesus seemed to provoke. Herod tried to kill him (Mt 2:13-14). And Simeon under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit prophesied opposition to Jesus (Lk 2:34). Right at the beginning of his public ministry, he was rejected by his own townspeople. They even tried to kill him (Lk 4:28-30). If that wasn’t enough the Pharisees and Herodians conspired to put him to death, too (Mk 3:6). He warned his own disciples that they, too, should expect the same treatment (Jn 15: 20-21). In the end the forces of evil seemed to have succeeded in their violent opposition to Jesus (Mk15:12-15).

How do we reconcile the claim that Jesus is the bringer of peace with the division, opposition and violence that he seems to provoke? 

The problem I believe is not in Jesus but in the response of people to him. Those who accept Jesus and his message find peace. Those who reject Jesus and his message will find themselves in a position opposed to him and to those who accept Jesus and his message. And with the existence of opposing sides, division and conflict are inevitable.

But peace is still possible. If not outside, then inside at least. Peace of mind. Peace of soul. And Jesus can bring us this inner peace. That is why this assertion is true.

Know Jesus. Know peace.

No Jesus. No peace.