“Warnings and Encouragements” Luke 12:49-56 Humber United Church August 18, 2013

“I have come to set fire to the earth! And how I wish it were already blazing! I have an immersion to undergo - how pressured I feel till it’s over! Do you think that I have come to bring peace in the Land? Not peace, I tell you, but division! For from now on, a household of five will be divided, three against two, two against three.

Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother- in-law.”

Then to the crowds Yeshua said, “When you see a cloud-bank rising in the west, at once you say that a rainstorm is coming; and when the wind is from the south, you say there will be a heat wave, and there is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky - how is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? Complete Jewish Bible)
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Wow! Did Jesus really say these words?  Did he actually say: "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” I have to say when I read through this passage, my immediate response was “I don’t want to try preaching this!” It really doesn’t fit with the picture we have of Jesus, or his mission, does it? We have it in our heads that this man was always about non-violent resistance, peace, care. What on earth is this?

This is the real drawback to picking short texts out of longer pieces - we get a little tiny piece, that really doesn’t make sense unless it’s put into the whole of the context.

Luke’s twelfth chapter might be called “Warnings and Encouragements”. Like the “Blessings and Woes” of the beatitudes, it’s a traditional way of teaching.

So we have to look at the twelfth chapter. Jesus starts his teaching by a few words of warning against the Pharisees. Then he tells the story about the Rich Fool, and follows that with the famous "Don’t worry" speech.  Then he follows that with the story of the  watchful servants who keep the lamps burning, waiting for the master to return. Jesus follows this with elaboration on what it means to be good stewards. Then we have today's lectionary passage where Jesus insists that he came to bring division, not peace, but he ends the discourse by specifically providingan encouragement to interpret the signs of the times. He says they can tell what the weather will be by looking at the sky, or the direction of the wind, and asks “Why can’t you open your eyes to what's going on around you - the injustice and hypocrisy.”

In Verse 41,  Peter asks  "Lord, are you telling this parable only to us, or to everyone?" Although Jesus never really answers the question, Luke infers that Jesus was indeed addressing the first part to the disciples, but addressing the second part of his discourse with the words: "He also said to the crowds..."

Look at the first part - this probably rang very true to the disciples  - who were asked to leave everything behind and make a decision that would put them at odds with their families, and the religious and government authorities.  It would put them into the "rebel camp."

This message about Jesus bringing division became true for the disciples in other ways; most all of them became martyrs for their faith.  The world was not quite ready for Christianity until the conversion of Constantine and the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD.

One of my student colleagues when I was studying for the DMin degree, was a Jewish man who had converted to Christianity, and then was ordained an Anglican priest. His parents, who were fairly conservative Jews, had a funeral for him - essentially he was dead to the family. Yet Warren’s parents somehow came around, when his sister married a Scottish Presbyterian. I remember him describing the pain the family and how he was shunned for a long time. I did the wedding, because he felt doing it himself would refresh the pain.

Think about those ministers of the Gospel who have exercised and do exercise  radical discipleship. Those who stood with Martin Luther King, for the ordination of women, for the ordination of gays,  those who standing for equal rights for all. Injustice and maltreatment of people is still rampant all around us - in the work place, in schools, shopping centres; look at the Olympics in Russia - but people are speaking out; there is a growing movement to take the Olympics out of Sochi, and move them to Vancouver. A couple of weeks ago I spoke about the Danes and the Norwegians resisting Hitler; the church leaders who resisted and fought against apartheid. Think also of those people like Gandhi - who are not Christian, and who yet stand for the kind of peace and equality of Jesus. Isn’t that

German pastor/theologian Martin Niemoeller who survived Dachau and Sachsenhausen, is accredited with this poem.

    First they came for the communists,  and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
    Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
    Then they came for the trade unionists,  and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
    Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
    Then they came for the Catholics,  and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.
    Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
    
Jesus’ message is in fact, not about dividing families so much as letting the people around us know that the kind of peace we advocate is peace for all, not peace at the expense of others. Jesus tells us today to become radical disciples. Let us no longer just listen and observe, but rather interpret the signs of the times and act, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.


Sources:
1. Peace-But Not At Any Price! a sermon based on Luke 12:49-56  by Rev. Frank Schaefer