Division, Not Peace?
Division, Not Peace?
August 14, 2022
Luke 12: 49 - 69
This morning’s lesson, still from the twelfth chapter of Luke, includes one of the surprising or difficult or strange passages attributed to Jesus. 49“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” And a couple of verses later Jesus is reported saying, 51“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” That was addressed to the people of his time; the churches of our time may have made it especially relevant today.
That doesn’t sound like the preacher-teacher who said, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”
Nor does it sound like Jesus’ response to a scribe, saying Mark 12:29 “The first (greatest) [commandment] is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Bringing fire to the earth and bringing division instead of peace sounds like a statement made during difficult times. And there were difficult times. The Gospel of John reports Jesus saying to his brothers, Jn7:7bthe world “hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil.” That might be a context for talking about bringing fire and division rather than peace to the world.
Or a few verses earlier in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the crowds about eating his flesh and drinking his blood – what we did last Sunday. Except the Jews took Jesus’ words literally, John says, and they were wondering, Jn6:52b“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” To which Jesus responded, Jn6:53b“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
Jn6:60“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult, who can accept it?’” And Jn6:66“Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’” (They didn’t.)
Maybe at a time like that Jesus talked about bringing fire to the earth and division instead of peace and love among people.
This is not a brand-new idea. Isaiah 5 uses a symbol of God’s building a vineyard, doing everything one should do, and it yielded wild grapes – not good ones. Then Isaiah says that God chose Judah and Israel and expected justice but got bloodshed, expected righteousness but heard a cry of abuse. This is an old story of failing to meet God’s expectations.
The fact is that we have what appear to be three independent accounts of Jesus’ saying that he came to bring division rather than peace. It is here in Luke 12: 51, In Matthew 10: 34, and Thomas 16:1-2. That is, they seem to report on the same situation, the same statement, but they are different enough that they appear to be three oral traditions or transmissions of the event, reflecting how minor adjustments are made in the text as they are brought down over twenty to forty years.
The Gospel of Thomas, a collection of Jesus’ sayings that is not in the Bible, reads, Thom16:1“Jesus said, “Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. 2They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.” He follows this with a restatement of the Micah’s (7:5-6) example of conflict: son against father, daughter against mother, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
The Gospel of Matthew reads: 14:34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Then he quotes Jesus as saying that he has come to cause the same conflicts listed in Micah: a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
The Gospel of Luke, which we read a few minutes ago, reads: 12:49“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” This is followed first by a statement that families will be divided 2 against 3 and 3 against 2 and then by the same Micah listing of conflicts: son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
The three accounts are similar, yet different. That’s the way that oral transmission of information is likely to carry materials. And Luke has added an additional (probably oral) tradition about the “baptism with which he is to be baptized.” It is likely we do not have the exact way that Jesus said these words – or he may have said it a number of times in slightly varying ways. But we do have this fascinating statement that Jesus said that he was bring division and maybe fire, sword, and war. So, what do we do with it? How do we understand it -- in our current context?
I quipped above that the churches of our time may have made this Jesus statement especially relevant today. The United Methodist Church is splitting – we do not yet know how significantly – over questions of homosexuality in the Church. In pragmatic form it is whether an openly gay person can be appointed as a pastor in a United Methodist Church – he or she can’t now -- or whether a United Methodist pastor is permitted to perform a same-sex wedding – we can’t now; (I have twice had to tell couples that I was not permitted to perform their marriages; If I had married either couple, I could not be your pastor any longer.)
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself – so long as he or she meets all of my prejudices. No. That is not the way second – just like the first commandment, reads. But the divisions around Jesus’ teachings can be awful.
In the spring of 1964 – 58 years ago, I was able to go to Pittsburg for the first week of the then Methodist Church’s General Conference as part of a Methodist Student Movement program. We observed committee meetings all day and were helped at night to understand what was being done by leaders in the Church. That was the General Conference that finally acted on formal structural racism in our Church. The proposal to disband separate Black and White jurisdictions, annual conferences, districts, and local churches was coming to a vote the next week. Many delegates to our Church’s highest legislative body clearly displayed attitudes that racial prejudice was much more important than what Jesus defined as the second most important commandment.
As idealistic students – and I would still do it – we stood at the edge of the entry to the Three Rivers Stadium holding signs urging the passage of the proposal to end formal structural racism in our Church. I don’t remember that anyone actually spat on me, but many looked and acted like they were fixing to spit at me. It was a horrendous experience; not yet forgotten. And it caused a lot of soul searching before I finally did commit to the Methodist Church; my belief in redemption overcame the repulsive sin of my elders in our Church.
That was not war with swords and guns. But it was war with looks and subtle actions. I really can’t understand how people of faith can so blatantly ignore the primary commandments and affirmations of the Christian faith in favor of their personal prejudices about race. And now we are doing it all over again – continuously since 1968 – putting prejudice about homosexuality above Jesus’ second commandment.
In the three reports of this statement that Jesus is bringing fire and war and sword instead of peace, we receive little insight into what he was really saying. It may well have been that Jesus recognized that being expected to love God in practical ways and to love our neighbors – even just our immediate neighbors – would be beyond the reach of many “religious” or pious people who based their faith on what felt good or right to them. National and local cultural opinions would overshadow the depths of what are now called Christian values and practices. Hence, urging us to love God and neighbor was setting us up for division: the radically or very committed Christian versus the church members who are looking for a comfortable religion.
Well, that is “those” people. What about you and me? Do we really love God and our neighbors – next door neighbors, cross-town neighbors, politically off-base neighbors (from our perspective), and enemy neighbors? That is what Jesus taught; we have heard it, will we do it?
Can there ever be peace in the Church? Or will some people always choose a little verse here or there to justify their wishes while ignoring the two greatest commandments? Will we ever put aside our personal wishes and likes to take up at least those two primary commandments? As Jesus put it, Mk12:31c“There is no other commandment greater than these.” Maybe we should restate it, there is no other value or practice greater than these – love God and neighbor. Certainly, racial and homosexual prejudices are way less significant than loving our neighbors. So, too, should be how we articulate our faith or how we interpret biblical passages or what songs or hymns we sing.
We need to pay attention to what we believe, think, say, and do – that is, how do we line up with loving our neighbors? What does our Church say and do; how do we together line up with loving our neighbors – what does our budget say about our Christianity?
What will we do; will we really love our neighbors – all our neighbors -- as our number one value and job?
What will you do; will you really love your neighbors – all your neighbors – as our number one value and job?
Jesus brings division between those who pretend to follow Jesus and those who hear Jesus’ teachings and do them – who love, really love their neighbors at least as much as they love themselves.
How about you? Will you follow Jesus? Will you love your neighbors regardless of our cultural prejudices? Will you love your neighbors -- as much as you love yourself? That is the measure of Christianity; do you measure up?
We have already asked forgiveness for failing to measure up. We are forgiven and free of the past. What will your future be? Who will you be?
You can do it and you can get better as you practice: Love God and love your neighbor. That is the way to God’s life and love and peace. Choose God’s love.
Amen.
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