Prince of Division?
Notes
Transcript
Last week on Monday Larissa, Wesley, and I went over to Logan Park for a Lions Club meeting and a picnic. After eating, and feeding Wesley an assortment of peaches, blueberries, and some potatoes that John Lowery cooked, I walked him over to the swing set.
I placed him into the swing and began pushing him, slowly. He started with both of his hands up kind of on the chain, then they went out in front of him, almost bracing against the front of the swing. The whole time, he smiled. Then, his arms lowered more, he slumped down a bit, and the next thing I knew he was fast asleep, swinging back and forth.
I chuckled at this, told a few people to check it out, and then I stopped the swing and pulled the sleepy boy out. It was a cute moment, one where I watched a very awake and alert boy become so comfortable, so content, that he actually fell asleep in the middle of swinging.
When you hear this story, and if you witnessed it, you would know how sweet and serene this scene was. And, believe it or not, Jesus in Luke’s Gospel is talking to a bunch of people whom he might consider to be asleep as well, but not for a good reason. And, their slumber was something Jesus was attempting to disrupt. Let’s take a look at a few things Jesus says here in Luke’s gospel.
49 “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
Verse 49 begins a sections that is often called “Jesus The Cause of Division.” This verse here, the first in this section, shows us a Jesus who says he came to bring fire to the earth. Starting here is a great example for why we need to be interpreting God’s word through careful prayer, study, and focus. Not a simple gleaning and saying, “see, that’s that!”
As Jesus addresses the crowd of people and disciples that surround him, he talks about bringing fire to earth. Does this mean that Jesus is going to rain down fire from heaven? Well, John and James, sons of Zebedee sure thought this was the case. But, in reality, this fire that Jesus references is a symbol for purification and cleansing. All throughout Scripture fire is used to be a sign of purifying. It also serves as a symbol of the Holy Spirit too.
However, fire never seems like a fun thing. And, that’s exactly why Jesus uses this language here. In the midst of a world that has become cozy, comfortable doing it’s own thing, Jesus has come to disrupt, to correct, to restore. And, that’s never comfortable. In verse 50 Jesus says,
50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!
While talking about the purifying fire, the discomfort that it will bring, Jesus brings forward a baptism that he is to face. This points forward to the passion event, to Jesus’ death. He is saying here that until his death and the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus in constrained and being pushed against on all sides. That future baptism is one that looks much different than the baptism by water and Spirit. Instead, this one is a baptism of suffering, of pain, of death. Despite his knowing of the future, of the upcoming suffering, he still preached truth.
This next piece of what Jesus says is often one where I get a lot of questions from people. Listen and see if you can understand why...
51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 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.”
When we think about the Advent season in the church what do we often ascribe Jesus to be? Right, the Prince of Peace. Well, I think N.T. Wright summarizes this point quite nicely when he says the following:
The crisis [that is Jesus Christ disrupting the comforted ways of living] is coming, we have seen. It poses a challenge to absolute loyalty. But now even what we might have thought the gospel was all about is being stood on its head. Prince of Peace, eh? Jesus seems to be saying. No: Prince of Division, more likely! Once this message gets into households there’ll be no peace: families will split up over it, just as the prophets had foretold. The warnings about fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and so on includes a quotation from Micah 7:6, a passage in which the prophet warns of imminent crisis and urges that the only way forward is complete trust in God.
You see, in a world that continues to grow in complacency, in a world where troubles abound every day and more and more people neglect a full faith in God, the Good News of Jesus Christ not only speaks a message of peace, but in doing so causes great disturbances on the calm water.
Yes, this news of Jesus is the best news to be heard. It is life saving and life changing. But, being the one who spreads that news often comes with a price. It comes with the price of turbulence in the home, especially when following Jesus means doing things drastically different in and around the home. To take what has always been done and say, “but the Good News of Jesus says...” is not the best way to win friends and be the most popular person at the family reunion. But, we were never told that it would be.
The division that comes from this is not something that ought to excite us, or drive us to push harder, but it’s the natural consequence from speaking the truth of Christ into the lives of people who are willingly blind to Christ. It’s hard, it’s uncomfortable, and sometimes it brings about division. And, as we are seeing all around us, this division is not simply something that occurs in the home. It happens in our work places, in our friend groups, in our social clubs, in our communities and schools, and even in our church. But, peace at the cost of the truth of Christ is not peace at all. And, division as a result of the truth of Christ is bound to happen.
Jesus moves on, from verses 54 to 56 to say this:
54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Without understanding what is going on and what Jesus says before these 3 verses, this section of Scripture seems quite odd. Why is Jesus out here yelling at the weather people at the time? Well, in this section of Scripture sometimes called “Interpreting the Time,” Jesus says to the people that while they can look at certain weather patterns and see what is soon to come, they are unable to look at the very moment they are in and see how monumental it is.
Luke Concerning the Crisis Created by Jesus’ Ministry (12:49–59; Matthew 10:34–36; 16:2–3; 5:25–26; Mark 10:38)
The people, says Jesus, are quite clever in reading weather signs but are blind to the sign from God: the ministry of Jesus among them. In fact, the time of God is now and is so urgent with meaning and importance that common wisdom dictates that everyone attend immediately to his or her relation to God. Wise people settle accounts before they reach court and the jurisdiction of the magistrate; once the judge takes charge of the case, it is too late for any other recourse (vv. 57–59). In other words, give attention to your life before God now, because if delayed until the eschaton, all that remains is the sentencing.
This rebuke of the people is a call to the people, telling them to open their eyes, see what’s before them, and give attention to their lives in God right now.
After rereading this Scripture and having a deeper understanding of what’s going on, we are able to step back a bit and look at the world around us.
Church, have we as believers in Jesus become complacent in the world? Have we become comfortable with the status quo and the faux peace we have by not bringing Christ into the mixture every single day? Maybe it’s time that we act like Beethoven. Here’s why I say this...
Luke for Everyone Reading the Signs of the Times (Luke 12:49–59)
The great composer Ludwig van Beethoven used sometimes to play a trick on polite salon audiences, especially when he guessed that they weren’t really interested in serious music. He would perform a piece on the piano, one of his own slow movements perhaps, which would be so gentle and beautiful that everyone would be lulled into thinking the world was a soft, cosy place, where they could think beautiful thoughts and relax into semi-slumber. Then, just as the final notes were dying away, Beethoven would bring his whole forearm down with a crash across the keyboard, and laugh at the shock he gave to the assembled company.
Maybe there are times when, like Jesus himself on this occasion, or Beethoven in this story, that we need to wake people up with a crash. There are, after all, plenty of warnings in the Bible about the dangers of going to sleep on the job.
Brothers and sisters, are we asleep on the job? Have we been lulled into a sense of complacency like Wesley in a swing, gently drifting off to sleep? My fear is that many in Christ’s church have, all around the world. We’ve become comfortable with doing the same wrong things over and over again, and fearful of the good and righteous change that Christ can bring.
While, yes, the message of Jesus Christ speaks of hope, peace, and salvation, it isn’t always taken that way in the moment. There may be moments where you talk with another believer who points out a change you must make, and I’m sure in that moment you aren’t feeling all bubbly and peaceful. But, it doesn’t make that person wrong, or bad. It makes them a loving brother or sister in Christ.
We must not allow ourselves, or our brothers and sisters, to become complacent in this world. The Good News of Jesus in our lives cannot be the reason that we sit back and relax until Jesus comes again. It should be the very fuel we need to not only make it through every day, but should be the message we deliver on the DAILY to those around us.
Jesus points out to us here in Luke that His coming does bring some divisiveness, and that’s to be expected. But, don’t let that be the reason why you shy away from truth, from living a holy and Christ-like life. Don’t let the threat of divisiveness nor the masquerade of false peace be the reason why you refuse to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let us not be hypocrites, but people who are capable of seeing the world as it is. Broken, and in deep need of a savior to come and restore it all.
If you find yourself here this morning in a sense of complacency, I urge you to awaken. If you are here this morning and recognize that you might be sleeping away, I call you to rise and wake up. We can either be the servants of Jesus who ready ourselves and wait in eager expectation for our master to come, or we can be asleep on the floor and miss his coming.
Woe to those who continue to slumber. But, peace, glory, honor, and strength be to those who take Christ’s lead and proclaim the Good News.
Amen.