Salvation is a Contentious Process.
Kenny Roger’s had a hit song in 1974 called the Gambler. A portion of the lyrics goes like this: “Ya gotta know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away; know when to run.” In a nutshell, that is the message of today’s first reading.
We hear in that reading where the people of Jerusalem were threatened by an army of the King of Babylon. They had a choice; they could either fight or surrender. Jeremiah the prophet told the people they should surrender. He warned, if you don’t surrender, you will suffer famine, pestilence, and will be killed in battle. Your city will be burned to the ground.
The soldiers and citizens were against surrender, so they threw Jeremiah into a cistern to silence him. Some friends rescued him and took him to the King of Judah where he further explained how surrender was the will of God. The King of Judah, yielding to the wisdom of God, hesitantly and secretly agreed to surrender.
As history turned out, surrender was necessary for preservation of Israel as a people. In surrender they preserved their lives and their heritage. Such was the foundation of the restored people of God as they came out of exile a few hundred years later. Sometimes losses are gains in the broader scheme of things.
In contrast to the advice from Jeremiah, today’s gospel tells us: be prepared for and expect conflict and division. Our gospel starts with these words of Christ, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” “There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished.”
These words announce the impatience of Jesus to get his passion and death over with. Then, the focus would turn to us and our response. After Jesus “comes to set the earth on fire”, we begin our journey of conversion. Oftentimes this journey is contentious.
Each day of our life we strive toward salvation. The good and the bad events of life shape us as we walk this journey. We make choices and we witness choices made by others. Each path is unique; each path is peculiar to the person that walks it. Some walk straight lines; others walk circuitous routes. Some walk fast; others are slow. These differences sometimes produce division.
At first blush, we think division is bad, but that is not necessarily so. Division can be a tool. Through the division of the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches of our government we balance competing interests and run a better social order.
Even divisions within families can be constructive. It was partially through division that I became a deacon. My son came home from college with questions about my faith; questions that I could not answer. I came to realize it was unacceptable for me not to know the answers. This started my quest to better understand my faith. Temporary division and debate with my son awakened in me a deep longing to know more about my faith. Eventually it led me to answer the call to become a deacon.
Division is not a destination or a final product. It is a tool. It merely recognizes that at a point in time differences exist. Differences prompt responses. Differences beg for resolution. In responding and in resolving, we are challenged to deal with differences with compassion, patience, and understanding.
Some of the division we experience today is similar to that experienced by Jeremiah. He tried to insert the influence and the reality of God into how the people of his day lived their lives.
Each generation must confront the present day reality of governments, laws, and policies of their time, keeping them in sync with the will of God. If the kingdom of God is to come on earth as it is in heaven, we must understand the events of earth and seek to address them with the message of heaven.
Too often today, it seems as though Christians are being encouraged to shut up out of some misguided sense of courtesy. We are asked to silence our thoughts, concerns, and ideas out of a desire to put forth a more neutral agenda. We live in an age of what one might call peaceable correctness.
We cannot allow ourselves to be forced out of a willingness, or even desire, to take part in public discussion of issues. Our silence would look like surrender. It could signal a notion that the religious view is not important; that what Christianity has to offer is “outdated” or is not applicable; that it is just a personal preference. That is certainly not true.
Christianity isn’t just a theology - it’s a way of life. It’s something we have to talk about. We need to have opinions on the major moral issues of the day; like abortion, gay marriage, contraception, co-habitation, stem cell research, and the death penalty. We need to be prepared to discuss them and offer a Christian response. When our children or our friends ask why we are Catholic or what our Catholic faith teaches about an issue, we need to have a response.
This text reminds us that the decision to follow Christ is not a walk in the park. It is not just being nice, and polite, and minding our own business. Its going to be painful at times, and people around us—maybe even our own families—may not understand. There may be friction. There may be division. We must expect that and deal with it with Christian love, but also with Christ-like resolve.
We need to be players in the business of life. Salvation is a contentious process. Christians must be engaged in the debate. Let us not put our tongues on leashes or withdraw our voices for fear of controversy.
As we work to insert the influence and the reality of God into how we live our lives, let us be prepared to hold ‘em and not fold ‘em. Our surrender should be only to the will of God.