The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 12th chapter:
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five 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.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
If you listen to the world enough, you’ll find out that they really do think that Jesus was some sort of hippie. Peace, love, freedom, equality, that’s what Jesus is about for the world, right? Like, He would have been one sticking the flower in the rifle barrel of the soldier during the March on the Pentagon in 1967. Jesus is sometimes painted as the compassionate refugee, the listening therapist, the distant guru, the radical feminist. And you know what’s worse than finding out this is how the world sees Him? Finding out that many in the Church see Him this way, too!
In reality, Jesus makes it pretty clear today that He’s no kind of hippie, no kind of feminist, no kind of peace-loving, equality-driven guy. You can try to define Jesus all you want, but unless you define Him rightly, unless you figure out what He’s up to and what’s He doing and who He is, it won’t matter. If you come up with a different definition of Jesus, that doesn’t just mean that’s who He is. Put it this way: if I start telling you that a chemical called dihydrogen monoxide is a danger, you might believe me. After all, this chemical, sometimes called hydroxyl acid, is a major component of acid rain. It might case sever burns. It erodes natural landscapes. It corrodes and rusts many metals. It can cause your car brakes to fail. It’s used in industrial solvents and coolants. It’s used in nuclear power plants. It’s a component of Styrofoam. It’s in most pesticides, and even after washing, the chemical remains on produce. It’s even found in junk food and carbonated beverages. And all of that sounds pretty awful, doesn’t it? And that’s because of the way I phrased it all. I picked out the things that alarm us most to describe water. H2O. I mean, all of that is true, but is that how water really is? Instead, isn’t it an essential for life?
So, yes, Jesus valued women, but He wasn’t a feminist. Yes, Jesus’ family had to run for their lives from Herod, but He wasn’t a refugee. Yes, Jesus preached living peaceably with others, but He wasn’t a hippie. Yes, Jesus preached that God loved everyone, even people who had homosexual inclinations, but that didn’t make Him about equality like we think about it. We’re cherry-picking attributes or statements about Jesus and applying them to everything He did and said. But that’s not fair to Him. You have to take Him on the whole and then see who He is by what He did and what He said. You can’t just take what you want and leave the rest behind. You can’t.
Today, in our text, Jesus is a judgment and suffering kind of guy. “I came to cast fire on the earth…” That doesn’t sound nice and peaceful. “…and would that it were already kindled.” Umm, isn’t that like saying I wish you all we burning right now? “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Well, that doesn’t sound very nice. The reality is that He talks about this often, judgment and burning. It’s a big part of His message, but one the world, and even some in the Church, conveniently want to ignore. It’s not something we like because the thoughts of it are so difficult.
But, this has been the message of God throughout the Scriptures. Repent, for the time is soon coming when the Lord will stand upon the earth and be judge over it. That is not a happy thought. We hear it today in the prophet Jeremiah: look out for those who tell you that there is no judgment over you, that no disaster will come upon you, that you can do what your heart tells you to do, that you can think what your mind wants to think, that you can say what your tongue wants to say. Look out for those people; they do not come from God, they’ve never heard from Him, and God has never given them the authority to speak. Instead, look out because judgment is coming. Look out because God is going to level the world.
We need to realize that the time of Jesus can come at any time. There is no time when we shouldn’t be expecting His return. I know that I forget that. I get to thinking that I can just go about my business, or I can engage in some sin, or even that I can so enjoy what I’m doing at the moment, that Jesus isn’t expected right now. The Church should always expect Jesus to return at any moment; even if He should tarry for a million years we should still be living and hoping and praying as if Jesus will come back any minute. But we don’t. We forget it. It’s understandable that we forget Jesus is coming back, it’s understandable that we don’t live in that expectation, but that doesn’t make it right. We need to get back to the expectation of Christ, because, when Jesus returns, it’s going to be a moment of judgment for everyone. Christ will break the stone hearts of all people into pieces. No one will escape. Not even you.
The Christ describes for Himself here a desire to see this already happening. And that’s a little bit scary. The thought that Jesus is saying I wish you were being judged right now comes across as a bit… judgmental. But, if you think about it, it makes sense. Jesus is saying that the world is ready to be judged. The only thing it is missing is Jesus’ own baptism by fire. That, of course, is referring to His suffering and death. Once that happens, the judgment can begin. People can be separated from one another for God’s own sake.
Interestingly, Jesus points out that this separation will begin now, but will continue through the judgment. There is something here for us to hear, that Jesus’ death will divide families like a sword divides a head from a neck. That division will be so deep, it will be insurmountable. And it won’t just happen now, in this lifetime, but will continue for eternity. It doesn’t mean that every family will be divided as such. It does mean that many families will. It’s like the rest of Jesus’ work: the kingdom is coming now, and it will arrive in the future. Forgiveness comes now, it will be complete in the new creation. You are holy now, you will be holy in the resurrection. You will be divided now, you will be divided in the forever to come.
Simply put, Jesus sounds like an awful person for wanting this to come on the earth now. Doesn’t He want to give everyone a second chance? Doesn’t He want to save as many people as possible? Doesn’t He want everyone to repent? Doesn’t He want to loosen His demands so that He can get them all? The answers to these questions are complicated, but Jesus has still told us that He’s a judgment and suffering kind of guy. If we don’t define Him thusly, we short shrift Jesus and what He’s told us about Himself. Jesus has been preached to the world from the beginning. Everyone has had the opportunity to seek God, and we all, from our conceptions, choose sin and evil over Him. Jesus does suffer for all, but unless one is brought to faith, we all reject that suffering and choose to be judged on our own merit.
When we are judged by our own merit, when we stand before God and defend ourselves, we will face the destruction foretold by the prophets of old. We will be rent apart, never to be put back together, and we will be sent to hell where we shall be destroyed for eternity yet never die. But, if we plead the suffering and death of Christ, if we stand in the judgment room and look to Jesus for mercy, we shall receive it, because Jesus is a judgment and suffering kind of guy.
Jesus really isn’t interested in watching us suffer. He’s not. Are you interested in watching your children be tortured? Neither is Christ. So, He bore the wrath, the judgment of God, and suffered for you in your place. Jesus is all about judgment and suffering; that was His purpose as He dwelt among us in His incarnation. Everything He did, everything He said, was to bring Him closer and closer to the cross, that He would die for you. He knows that the world is going to be hard on you, and I believe that’s part of why He’s talking about how He wishes the world were in judgment right now: it would spare you.
Those who believe in Christ will suffer for His sake. They will face judgment, from the world, from their families, from their friends. They will suffer in this life. But, the Lord will have His recompense and He shall judge all those who come against you. He has warned them and told them to repent, to turn from their wickedness. He is not a God of peace, but a God of holiness, and He will not abide their disobedience. Nor does He abide yours. He is working in you, even now, to have you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, leave behind your sin and turn to Him and His ways. Regardless of how successful you are, our Lord has already marked your judgment as being on Himself. He has already set aside your sin and disobedience and has claimed you as His own that you may dwell with Him in eternity.
Jesus tells us that He is a God of judgment and suffering, but not for you. He wants to, and has, taken all the suffering needed in this world. He suffered mightily upon the cross. He wants to, and has, taken the judgment of God against the world. He suffered under the wrath of God. No one needs suffer as He did, though many will as they choose it for themselves. But not you. You won’t suffer as He did, a suffering the world has never seen. You won’t be judged as He was, a judgment that finds you guilty of doing every sin that has ever been committed. He’s all about suffering and judgment, His own. Find out who this Jesus claims to be and cling to Him. Don’t make up His identity for Him. Trust what He says about Himself and trust that He will see you through to the end. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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