Recently a United States Congresswoman declared that if Jesus and his followers had AR-15’s Good Friday would have ended differently. A Baptist Pastor in Fort Worth Texas advocates for executing gay people as a matter of civic policy, and another congresswoman declares her pride in being a Christian Nationalist and looks forward to the day when we are all Christian nationalists. This weekend agents of the highest and most skilled law enforcement agency in the world are living in fear because of threats on their lives due to a legal raid on Mar A Lago. This angry mob is fueled and encouraged by a fractured and mistaken theology. Who else finds themselves asking at least once or twice a day, what is wrong with this country? How do such people claim to follow Christ? And I ask, as a church how are we not addressing this? Can we predict the weather, but not see the signs of a great spiritual threat? Diana Butler Bass wrote on her blog last week: “When theocrats, fascists, and authoritarians form an alliance, it’s really bad news. It points to the most severe form of social collapse in the cards.” Friends, how does the Church of Christ NOT speak into this atmosphere? That is my question now and it’s been my question for quite some time. Silence is complicity. Butler Bass calls these developments bad news. What then is the Good News?
Today’s Gospel is challenging. This talk of fire and family discord does not seem like Good News at all. My New Testament Professor has written “This passage offers a test for preachers-really for any Bible readers. What will we do with it?” In this verse we are seeing a hard edge to Jesus, whom we have come to know as a gentle and loving rabbi. Now he is telling us he is bringing fire and division to earth. It sounds like the Prince of Peace is more warlike than we have been led to believe.
Conflict exists in Luke, as it does in all the Gospels. Luke relates Jesus’ Good News sermon in the temple which angers the congregation and Jesus narrowly escaping with his life. The parables spark our imagination for the coming Kingdom. The Story of the Prodigal Son shows us a God who forgives first and then throws a party. Then there is the rich story of the Good Samaritan. Imagine if the victim on the road had been well armed, he would have killed the bandits and more than likely he would have killed the Samaritan as well. Mostly Luke shows us a Jesus who heals and tends to those who are on the bottom or completely outside the religious and political power structures. And he faces opposition for all of that. He ignites a fire.
Today’s passage from Luke’s Gospel tests our understanding of who Jesus was and it tests our theology about the God of abundant and agape love. I suppose for some of us, it might feel easier to glide over the places where Jesus implies a fire and brimstone outcome. Or we can go the other way and read His words literally, looking for rationales for the “God given” right to bear arms, and how to rid ourselves of LGBTQ+ folks, and what it means to be a patriot. If we decide we want to cherry pick verses uncritically, Scripture has been used to provide a fair share of sanction for multiple atrocities throughout history. Folks want Scripture to be a stripped-down user’s manual, but Jesus is far too nuanced for that. I suggest we see this passage as revealing more about Jesus and his passionate care for us. Jesus is preparing us for the fire that will refine us, and through us refine the world. When we follow Jesus we must expect this refining fire and we must understand that we will face bitter opposition even from those we think we know best.
John the Baptist declared that Jesus will baptize us with fire which, if you think about it, totally reconfigures the font. In Luke 1 Mary declares that Jesus will scatter the proud and bring down the powerful from their thrones while lifting the lowly and feeding the hungry. That doesn’t sit well with folks in power. Simeon tells Mary that her son is destined for the rising and falling of many in Israel, and that he is a sign that will be opposed, and her heart will be pierced. Fire, resistance, division, and pain. Jesus and His way are the fire he brings to earth. To purify. To regenerate.
I’m reminded of my first trip to Holden several years back in 2018. This was shortly after the Wolverine Complex wildfire which came perilously close to wiping out the village. As we rode the buses from the drop off in Lucerne, I immediately noticed the surrounding hillsides, once hidden by the heavy foliage and greenery of the trees was now a desertscape of blackened spires. It was, to be sure, a little bit disheartening to me until my seatmate, Elaine, pointed out the purple flowers that were growing on the ground all around the dead trees. “Fireweed” And she explained to me how fireweed is the first species to start to repopulate the devastated forest. The Wolverine complex fire was started by lightning. Nature has a way of starting fires so the forest can regenerate itself after years of unchecked growth. Whether it showed up on God’s Great Cosmic Calendar that it was time to do some housecleaning up in the North Cascades, I couldn’t tell you. But it was natural, and it was necessary for the health of the forest and as the week went on, I began to appreciate the genius of the purifying effects of fire as well as a deeper appreciation for resurrection. If the Wolverine Fire taught me anything it is that fire can be a purifying agent.
So, when Jesus tells us that He brings fire, I think we ought not be fearful, especially if we are people of faith who welcome the fire for what it is. A chance to untangle the sin that threatens to choke out abundant life for all, an opportunity to reset our lives so that we are fit for the Kingdom. The Kingdom of the Samaritan, the Kingdom of The Father and His Prodigal offspring. Jesus is on fire and is anxious for the flames to catch so that the Kingdom may break in and break in now. We ought not to fear fire, and if we are going to be honest to the text, then we need to think about being that fire ourselves.
There will be resistance. Mother against daughter, father against son, and sometimes Christ against the Church.
The gospel of Love stands in sharp contrast to the world’s selfish ways.
The Gospel is a Gospel of Love, first and foremost. It is also a Gospel of Liberation. Through Love we are liberated to love, to work for our neighbors, especially those who are victims of oppressive regimes, be they political or economic, or religious, Liberation is offensive to those in power, those who benefit from the status quo, and they will fight with everything they have. So, Jesus is also preparing his hearers to understand, this Way of His is not going to be a cakewalk. Nor is it going to be caught in some pithy and reckless Hallmark scriptural reference. It is demanding work, and it will involve some fire, some purification. Things we think are important will be burned away and so we do not miss the point about where our loyalties lie, even families will come to division. This Fire of His does not discriminate.
We are also liberated to start fires ourselves. We can do this in big bold ways or by quiet means, but here is the one thing I’d like to leave you with. At times it can seem that we struggle alone. We scream at the TV, who are these people? But we are unsure about what we can do. Jesus never intended for us to walk this fiery path alone. He walks it with us, and he encourages us to walk together with others in community. He brings fire, he encounters fire, and he encourages us to be fire. We can do that by praying for those who feel God’s call into advocacy and activism, and we do that by continuing to come together in community to worship and encourage and lift up and always, always be in the business of establishing and enlarging the Kingdom of God.
Archbishop Oscar Romero said:
“A church that doesn’t provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed — what gospel is that? Nice, pious considerations that don’t bother anyone, that’s the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in.”
Nor do they set it on fire.