This week’s text is probably not the first passage that comes to mind when you think about images of Jesus. These are not the words that appear on bookmarks for children’s Bibles: “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” These words remind us that bringing peace for all may not have been good news for the powers and principalities that ruled the day in ancient Palestine and the Roman Empire.
While my inclination is to dismiss this text as an anomaly, as Jesus’ followers, we need to tend to its energy and its disruptive message. We love the images of Jesus that convey love and compassion, but when Jesus comes at us with fire, we are taken aback.
When we encounter these texts, it’s important for us to think about the greater arc of Jesus’ message. Beginning with the words spoken by Mary while Jesus was still in the womb, his presence was intended to lift up the lowly and fill the hungry with good things. When he returned to Nazareth to preach in his hometown, Jesus proclaimed his commitment to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection was, is, and will be for the good of all creation.
It’s important for us to remember that Jesus’ intention was not to impose fire or division, but to understand that because of what he was sent to do, fire and division would likely occur. In other words, when called upon to bring systemic change to a suffering world, that change will cause disruptions resulting in division and chaos.
So, this week we will tend to this energy, to this bumpy ride we live as followers of Jesus. Are you feeling this disruption and if so, how? We want Jesus’ peace and goodwill as long as it doesn’t come at our expense or as long as it doesn’t disrupt our lives. How do we live in this tension and energy?
It’s going to be a great conversation.
Peace,
Pastor Stephanie