Being the Church in a Divided World

Today’s gospel passage is one that can make us uncomfortable.* Jesus is speaking to a large crowd, that includes his disciples and religious leaders.** He says to them, “I came to bring fire to the earth…”

In our context, we may hear ‘fire’ and conjure up negative images of fire and brimstone. For that, we can thank the fourteenth century writer Dante, and his Inferno, as described in the first part of his Divine Comedy. Most of our modern imagery of heaven and hell comes from this text, which drew upon pieces of scripture and tradition, and expanded them into something much more robust. Thankfully, we can set Dante’s fire and brimstone aside, because the reference to fire would likely have stirred up something entirely different for this crowd. 

Moses, the leader of ancient Israel, first encountered the living God when he heard God’s voice speak to him through a burning bush.*** To this crowd, fire would have symbolized God’s presence. So to hear Jesus say, “I came to bring fire…” would tell them he has come to bring God’s presence into the world. It would have affirmed the rumors floating around that Jesus was the Messiah. 

Jesus goes on to say: “...how I wish it were already kindled! I  have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!” 

Jesus is longing for this fire to catch, to sanctify the earth from selfishness, abuse, and hate. He wants his listeners to feel and know God’s presence; to understand God’s dream for this world, and the ways in which we must turn everything upside down if we want to make things right again. 

This passage takes place as Jesus is travelling to Jerusalem, where he knows a baptism of trial, suffering, and crucifixion await him. Behind these words, we see Jesus’ humanity and vulnerability. His heightened awareness that time was running out. The stress, and the urgency behind that knowledge, wore heavy. 
 
All of this may be why Jesus implored for his listeners to understand: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Jesus is not telling us he is in favor of conflict, violence, and war. Nor is he telling us about the natural realities of conflict in family systems. Rather he is imploring his followers to understand that if we choose to follow Jesus we are choosing to spend the rest of our lives in pursuit of God’s dream. This will inherently lead us to experience division, conflict, and fractures within our family and friends. With time, these divisions are compounded by the wildly different ways the gospel is interpreted. We are seeing this today with the rise of Christian Nationalism, a vision that is truly at odds with what we understand of God’s dream. 

It’s helpful to remember Jesus was not looking to start an entirely different religion. He was looking to bring reform to his own Jewish tradition. Unfortunately, his message was not well received by some religious leaders. In fact, many of them were getting pretty frustrated with him. In an earlier verse they are described as feeling ‘very hostile’ towards Jesus.**** 

I can’t help but empathize with these frustrated religious leaders. Here they have this young leader, who is reframing how to interpret scripture, completely disrupting current norms. He’s doing this in a public setting, in a way that draws crowds and challenges their authority. I am sure some of these hostile religious leaders were folks who let their own self-serving ambition corrupt them. But I also imagine many more were something like middle management.  Caught in a system that they’d never really examined, and never really considered thinking about differently. Jesus was holding up a mirror for them and speaking truth to power.  It meant those in religious leadership had to decide whether to dismiss him in hostile annoyance, or to consider his teachings as truth. 

When we are the ones asked to do this kind of self-reflection, our response is often resistance. We yearn for permanence, even as everything about this life demands that we notice the impermanence of nature. When we refuse to engage in honest self-reflection, we bypass learning resilience and the growth that comes from it. Even worse, we purposely distance ourselves from God’s abiding presence. 

So what do we make of this passage as followers of Jesus? Jesus was reminding his followers of his purpose, and in turn our purpose. As the Church, we have to remember our why, our mission and our purpose, if we want to remain devoted to bringing about God’s dream for this world. Otherwise we risk losing sight of the priorities God has set before us, and we get distracted, and in turn, lose our effectiveness. 

In the back of the prayer book, is the Catechism, a loose framework of the Episcopal Church’s teachings in question and answer form. On pages 854-55, there is a section called “The Church”, and I want to point our attention to the last three questions:

Q.    What is the mission of the Church?
A.    The mission of the Church is to restore all people to
unity with God and each other in Christ.
      
Q.    How does the Church pursue its mission?
A.    The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, 
proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love.
      
Q.    Through whom does the Church carry out its mission?
A.    The church carries out its mission through the ministry
of all its members.

            Each and every one of us, I might add. 

Here at James and Andrew, we articulate this understanding of our mission in this way:
We believe God is calling us to cultivate a community of love, joy, hope, and healing. Jesus is our model for a life of faith, compassion, hospitality, and service. We strive to be affirming and accessible, welcoming and inclusive; we seek to promote reconciliation, exercise responsible stewardship, and embrace ancient traditions for modern lives.

It is imperative that we keep this mission before us.

While we are in this together, it’s not easy to hold up God’s dream of love. A dream that values love of neighbor over profit. A dream that values love of creation over convenience. A dream that values love of reconciliation over being right. 

Each week we leave worship, empowered and equipped to be the Church. To speak truth to power; to stand in solidarity with those on the margins; and to find the inherent dignity in each and every person. This means we need to see each and every human being as made in the image and likeness of God, and we need to love them. Call to mind for a moment the person that makes our blood boil, or the person who has caused us the most pain, or who simply drives us nuts. Our calling is to love them. Not be best friends with them. Not to condone their words and actions. We are to love them. 

And in order to love them, we need to remain in relationship with them. This requires keeping the door open.  And it’s probably worth noting, keeping the door open doesn’t mean keeping the possibility open that we can ‘fix’ them and convince them we’ve been in the right all this time. It means seeking out the dignity within each and every person, and loving them, knowing they are made in the image and likeness of God. Remembering their humanity, remembering we don’t know everything about their story or the ‘why’ behind their actions and beliefs. It means showing up to the relationship even when we disagree. It means increasing our tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. Because we trust that God is in this with us.  

Following Jesus’ Way of Love will bring us into division. It’s not a matter of if, but when, and how much. And we could choose to let that division be an ending of relationships, or we can take that division and reassess how we are engaging in those relationships. Doing what we need to be healthy and well, but keeping doors open. Praying for them, entrusting that God can see the bigger picture so we don’t have to.  Accepting the ambiguity and the discomfort as a natural outcome of keeping the door open for reconciliation, justice, peace, and love. 

As we prepare to head back out into a divided world, I would invite us to do some reflecting this week. 

• When has following Jesus' Way of Love led to division in our lives?
• Have we been able to keep the door open in those relationships? 
• And if the door has been closed, what would it look like to at least open the door in our hearts by how we pray for those people and relationships?
• Where do we need to get more comfortable with discomfort in order to live into the Church’s mission?

Amen.  

* Luke 12:49-56
** Working Preacher Podcast for 10 Pentecost / Proper 15
*** Exodus 3
**** Luke 11:53-55

---