First Reading - Jeremiah 38:4-6,8-10
Second Reading - Hebrew 12:1-4
Gospel - Luke 12:49-53
Jeremiah, in our first reading, is presented as experiencing the consequences of the burning word of God within him. Jeremiah’s preaching divided the city and incited such opposition that people sought his death. He showed the courage of his prophetic conviction by telling King Zedekiah that the Lord God said he had to surrender to the mighty army of Babylonian empire to save Israel. The result was that Jeremiah was thrown by his enemies into the muddy bottom of a deep, unused cistern to die for his “treason.”
In the second reading, Paul invites his Judeo-Christians (the Hebrews), to think of themselves as athletes in a race in a stadium, where their ancestors in the Faith would be spectators, surrounding them and cheering them on as they were now running the same race their faithful ancestors had run in their day. These ancestors were “witnesses” to the power of Faith to endure against every temptation to apostasy. Paul asked the Hebrew Christians to run the race, keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus the “leader and perfecter of our Faith.” In his earthly life, Jesus was both the pioneer of the Way of Faith, because he opened the Way through suffering to glory (v. 2), on Calvary, and its perfecter, because he completed his ”course,” rising on the third day after his death (the Father’s seal on the acceptability of His Son’s obedient, willing sacrifice for us), thus enabling believers to run the same race, through suffering to glory. We, too, are called to do our best until our great run for the Faith is crowned with victory.
Today’s Gospel passage consists of two sections: in the first section (vv 49-50), Jesus speaks of his Divine destiny to endure suffering, and in the second section (vv 51-53), he prophesies the breakup of families resulting from his message. Jesus explains his Divine destiny by highlighting his role of “setting the earth on fire” and being “baptized” in the waters of suffering. The images of fire and baptism refer to his mission, both in terms of the cost that it will exact from him and the decision it will require of people.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus, too, preaches the word of God which continues to divide families, a word which, he knew, would lead ultimately to his death. The fire Jesus brings is the fire of love and the fire of hope. The disruption, division, and revolution, which Jesus and his true followers cause in society by the fire of sacrificial love and the fire of justice, are necessary to re-set what’s fractured, put right what’s dislocated and cleanse what’s infected. In other words, the curative pain caused by Jesus’ ideas and ideals is necessary for the establishment of real shalom of God. Even though Jesus brings a sword and causes division, he is the bringer of true and lasting peace. In pursuing his mission, Jesus brings division because some follow him and others oppose him. We must make a decision to follow him or not, to share his “baptism” or not. This choice can result in division, even within families.
Dear friends one Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles, writing about the role of prophecy in the modern Church communities in his book, Models of the Church, remarks: “Christianity is not healthy unless there is room in it for prophetic protest against abuses of authority.” God continues to send such prophets to every parish community, and it is the duty of the bishop, pastor, and parish council to listen to the well-intended and constructive criticisms of such Jeremiahs. The words of the late Archbishop Helder Camara, the champion of Brazil’s poor, serves as a prophetic warning, to all members of the Church: “When I give bread to the poor, they call me a Saint. But when I ask why the poor have no bread, they call me Communist.”
On the day of our Baptism, we received the light of Christ and were instructed to keep that torch burning brightly until the return of Christ Jesus. In addition, the Holy Spirit was sent into our hearts at Confirmation to help set us on fire. “One who is on fire cannot sit on a chair.” So, as Christians on fire, we have to inflame people to care, to serve, and to bless one another with all the gifts of Faith. We should allow that fire to burn off the impurities in us and to bring out the purity of the gold and silver within us.
Insights for the Gospel
(“I have come to ‘set the earth on fire.'” In the Bible, fire is sometimes symbolic of purification (for example, Nm 31:23; Ez 22:19-22), and, more often, is associated with God’s judgment (for example, Jdt 16:17; Is 66:16; Am 7:4; 2 Pt 3:7). The image of fire is also used to symbolize God’s glory (Ez 1:4, 13), His protective presence (2 Kgs 6:17), His holiness (Dt 4:24), His righteous judgment (Zec 13:9), and His wrath against sin (Is 66:15-16). The image of fire is also used of the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11 and Acts 2:3). Fire has many characteristics: it warms, purifies, refines, transforms, and burns. As a purifying force, fire burns up what is useless and refines what is impure besides giving warmth and energy. Elijah brought the fire of judgment on the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18:36-40) and the soldiers of King Ahaziah (2 Kgs 1:10-14). John the Baptist promises that Jesus “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”(Mt 3:11), and that promise was fulfilled at Pentecost. James and John wanted to call down fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans who rejected Jesus, but Jesus would not permit it (Lk 9:54). We are also reminded of the prophet’s words, “For he is like a refiner’s fire…” (Mal 3:2). The fire burns hot, removing impurities and leaving only that which is desirable. These meanings suggest that the fire which Jesus brings will consume or purify the world. However, it is also possible that he means that his baptism will be a baptism of fire. In the Aramaic language the word translated as “earth” can also mean “earth-oven,” the common stove in Mediterranean villages, heated by burning dried and salted camel-dung patties. The salt in the dried camel dung acted as a catalyst keeping fire burning for a long time. In that sense, Jesus acts as a catalyst in his believers’ life. “Fire was to be an expected aspect of discipleship in the sense that: (1) baptism into Jesus dying and rising necessarily included a process of purification by his word and the Holy Spirit; (2) those who align themselves with him who is both LIGHT and TRUTH will inevitably know the heat of persecution; (3) the service of the good news will require a zeal so contagious that it will set fire in the hearts of others.”
“I must be baptized with a baptism:” The cup and baptism are metaphors for Jesus’ suffering and death when Jesus asks James and John, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?’ What Jesus means by his question and challenge is “I have a terrible experience through which I must pass, and my life is full of tension until I pass through it and emerge triumphantly from it; are you willing and able you do the same?” Our Baptism is an immersion in Christ’s death in which we die to sin and are reborn to the new life of grace: “We were indeed buried with him through Baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life”(Rom 6:4). In the same way, our Eucharistic celebration is a recollection of Jesus’ sacrificial baptism (immersion) in suffering, and death, and the anguish these caused him, not simply a celebration of the community with the risen Christ and with other believers.
“I have come to establish division on earth, not peace.” As Jesus walked the road to Jerusalem, the disciples had to decide whether to go with him or not. To be with or against Jesus is a decision which has the effect of judgment and division. Even though Christ did come to establish peace between God and man, that peace causes a division between those who accept it and those who reject it. In this way he becomes a sign of contradiction (CCC 575-576). Since Luke emphasizes peace as the gift that Jesus brings (1:79; 2:14; 19:38), we are shocked when Jesus declares that he has come not to bring peace on earth but division, splitting even families apart. Jesus’ teaching caused division in families, in communities, and in the Church. For the Palestinian Jews of the first century, a person’s place in the family conferred personal identity, protection, a support system, and a place in the community. To separate oneself from one’s family or clan was, literally, a matter of life and death. But Christianity tore families in two, because a follower of Christ had to decide which he loved better — his kith and kin or Christ. In Christianity, the loyalty to Christ has to take precedence over the dearest loyalties of this earth. Belief in Jesus and commitment to him cause fires of arguments to erupt between believers and non-believers in the same family or community, resulting in the division of families and conflict in society. Standing up for what is right and working for justice and truth are higher aims than unity, and working for those aims will sometimes cause division. Hence, Christians today may cause division and rouse opposition because they share, through their Baptism, the prophetic charism of speaking God’s word, no matter how unpopular, and of giving a voice to those who have no one to speak for them. Let us remember that Jesus’ sense of justice brought him into conflict with those who exploited the weak and the poor. His integrity invited confrontation with the dishonest and hypocritical leaders, and his love for the poor, for sinners and for the outcast alienated him from the narrow-minded and self-righteous. C.S. Lewis once said that the Gospel was concerned to create “new people” not just “nice people.”)
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