You know what, Jesus? This makes you certified dangerous. So you’re going to bring fire, division and family dysfunction? Like we need your divine help on this one. Incendiary talk won’t get you votes on making our world better. More like, arrested and put away for good. Yeah, you ask for it.

Fiery Talk

Yes, he said it. Sure, it’s got a contradictory spin from what we usually hear about who Jesus is, all nice and sweet, pretty talk about love and peace. But no, he wasn’t just having a bad day when he said all this. More like he was looking reality in the face.

Now take into account he only said this at first to his inner tribe, the Twelve. If anyone needed to know where all this was going, they did. That terrible baptism he spoke of was for him. Before all was over, excruciating suffering and a bloody death would be his fate. He’s at a point where he wished it was just over.

But take this thought with you, too. Fire brings down and destroys, but its heat melts and separates elements, the pure from the impure. Fire brings clarity. The Twelve are going to need that clarity, a sight undimmed by what would fog and hide the truth. And sometimes, truth burns.

Does Jesus bring Peace or Division?

Well, on this day Jesus doesn’t seem to be much in favor of peace, that is the kind where all is calm and all is bright. He’s ready to burn down the whole system, break apart what seems most important. You’d think he was a family man, but the way he talks, families should be split up and thrown out with the ashes. After all, he had already said as much to his own mother and brothers.

Things haven’t changed much. Families can’t gather for old fashioned holidays because of opposing views on virus testing and vaccinations, abortion positions, favored political parties. This nowhere approaches the traditional problems of personalities clashing over dysfunctional family dynamics. For Jesus, the bigger issues centered on his message.

Disclaimer here: Jesus was not into political movements. Sure, he knew what the Romans did to his own people with unfair taxes, corruption reaching down into the Jewish temple and priests. He didn’t like how both governmental and religious powers oppressed God’s people. Yet, never did he set himself up as a leader who would do something about it. His frustrations came out of a deeper caldron.

Present Times

At this point, Jesus speaks openly to the constant crowd mere steps away. He’s direct, near mean to them: “You hypocrites!” he accuses them. They’re so good at interpreting signs of weather change, but they can’t/won’t grasp what’s happening in the world right before them.

A Moral Dissonance

That clarifying fire that exposes truth? Jesus’s life is the catalyst. His teachings, stories, the challenges he makes pit what you’ve always thought against what you’re being asked to do. Like that one about The Good Samaritan. Think it’s about helping the needy?

He busts open myths of power, success, financial achievements which only promote a counterfeit peace. Those who would gain by it, don’t like what he has to say. This Prince of Peace makes political divisions look tame.

Jesus makes you choose. Choices always have consequences. Moral accommodations don’t fit with his brand, and his kind of peace doesn’t come cheaply. It shouts trouble and will cost your soul.

Luke 12:49-56