The Sermon Text Luke 12:49-56

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be 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.”

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. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. 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?

Sermon – Division

May grace and peace be yours in abundance, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.
This past Wednesday I came back to work after a two week vacation in Florida. Knowing that I was going to preach today and knowing that I was going to have a little bit less time to prepare for this sermon since I was coming back mid week, I decided to bring my Bible with me on vacation. I figured that I could look up the text that I was going to preach on, read it a few times, mull it over - reflect on it - and perhaps get some ideas flowing while I was still vacationing.

I should say that this trip was not simply a vacation with my immediate family. We were part of a somewhat larger group who were together to celebrate my in-laws 45th wedding anniversary. Along with my wife, Beth and our two children, we were joined by Beth’s parents and her brother, his wife and their three children. So the eleven of us spent the better part of nine days together. Three of those days were spent in a condo my in-laws own near Sarasota - it is a condo that my family and I have had the good fortune of going to many times over the years - and the remaining six days of our time together were spent in Disney World.

Disney World holds a very special place in the hearts of Beth and her family - they have gone to Disney World many times over the years (to many times to count) and they just love it - they cannot get enough of the place. In fact, when Beth’s family goes to Disney, they attack Disney!

They pride themselves on being one of the first people in the park in the morning and one of the last people in the park when it closes each night. And during the time in between, they are literally running from one ride or show to the next. Time spent in gift shops, snack booths or even restrooms is wasted time - time that could be better spent in line for Splash Mountain, the Tower of Terror, Fantasmic or the Beauty and the Beast show.

As for me, I am not quite as enthusiastic about Disney - I take a bit more subdued approach to Disney. I have been there with Beth and her family many times, but I guess I have never caught the Disney bug. Unlike her family, I would be quite happy to arrive at the park around 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning, and then leisurely go from a ride to a show, then maybe stop for a parade, perhaps visit a couple of souvenir shops along the way and then, after a quiet and relaxing dinner, leave around dusk.
Knowing the great difference in the way we approach Disney, I felt a bit anxious as I thought about this vacation in the days before we left Madison. As I said, I had been to Disney with Beth and her family before, but only for one day at a time. Those were tough days, but I could manage the pace because it was only for one day. I knew I could rest and recover the next day back at the condo. This was altogether different - this vacation consisted of spending six days in Disney with a “Disney crazy group.” I had great concerns about how we might all react to one another during this prolonged experience.
After a very relaxing three days in my in-law’s condo, we spent the last night packing and getting ready to drive to Disney for the second part of our vacation. When I had finished packing my stuff and getting everything ready for our early start the next morning, I crawled into bed, set the alarm for 4:45 a.m. and decided that perhaps I should read the Bible. I turned to the Gospel text for today, in hopes of finding some words of encouragement, words of hope, words that might calm me down and prepare me for this intense and challenging adventure with my extended family. So I read, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be 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.”

I had to laugh as I read those words because of the absolute irony that was involved. If it is true that God has a sense of humor, that night I was convinced that it was a very warped sense of humor. Fortunately I was not dealing with the tension of faith issues that Jesus was speaking of here, still I could understand and identify with the words of separation and division.
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” Those are tough words to hear Jesus say, aren’t they? We are much more accustomed to hearing Jesus speak words of comfort, words of hope, words of encouragement, words of peace - words I was seeking as I prepared to go to Disney. But today these harsh words show us a very different side to Jesus’ mission and ministry. They remind us that Jesus does not fit nicely into any one kind of box. We cannot make any simple assumptions about who Jesus is or what his mission is all about. Jesus is not simply the Prince of Peace - he is that, but he is also the one who brings division. Why? Why division and why not peace?

I read a wonderful little commentary on this passage from Gail O’Day who helped me understand that question - why division and not peace. She said,“The disciples want Jesus to offer them peace on their terms. What Jesus has to offer, however, will not be cozy or cheap peace, nor will it mesh with establishment definitions of peace. ‘Peace through strength’ would find not place in Jesus’ offering of peace because such ‘peace’ assumes that the ways of the world define the ways of peace. Nor would peace defined as ‘making your peace with the way things are’ find a place in Jesus’ offering, because resignation and acquiescence are not a part of God’s vision of shalom. Jesus’ peace will bring division and conflict, and many will fall because of it. Jesus’ work will follow unconventional channels of peace.

“The decisive turning point between the world lived under the disciples’ assumptions of peace and the world called into being by Jesus’ mission is found in the expression ‘from now on’ (verse 52). A new age that calls for new relationships has been inaugurated. We are called to decide whether we will stand with Jesus and the peace of the new age or whether we will be divided against him.”What is it about Jesus that causes division? I think the answer boils down to one thing - where we place Jesus in our lives. The point in this passage is that when someone hears Jesus’ call there is no possibility of neutrality - you cannot hem and haw about it - you either accept or reject God’s will as Jesus presents it. You either hear the words of Jesus and understand that these are words that we are to embrace and to follow, or you turn away and say, “That’s not for me.”
We want Jesus to make us feel good - we want Jesus to be safe - that’s understandable, that’s human nature. But this passage rejects that notion. Instead, it says that Jesus is leading a great fight for justice, for compassion and for mercy in this world and that we are to recognize our need to participate in that great fight. Following Jesus not all happy and cheery - it is serious business, the stakes are high and the work is not always safe.

Many of us saw the movie, The Chronicles of Narnia nearly two years ago and found it to be a wonderful adaptation of C. S. Lewis’ book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the story, Jesus is represented by a Lion named Aslan. The four children who are finally introduced to Aslan by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are not quite sure they want to meet him. Mr. Beaver says to the children,
“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
You’ll understand when you see him.”
“But shall we see him?” asked Susan.
“Why, Daughter of Eve, that’s what I brought you here for. I’m to lead you where you shall meet him,” said Mr. Beaver.
“Is--is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion - THE Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
“Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

What an interesting line. Jesus isn’t safe. But he’s good. Jesus calls upon each one of us to determine what is of the utmost importance in our lives and then, if we determine that it is he that is of the utmost importance, he calls upon us to live lives that are not necessarily safe, but that reflect his love, his grace and his sense of peace. Jesus brings division because his message and his actions are so radical.

Many of us dearly love the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd with the little lamb laid upon his broad shoulders. But the gospel truth is that Jesus creates a crisis by his presence in our world and in our lives. Crisis does not mean emergency but a time of decision-making. Answering the call to take up the cross and follow Jesus did and does have consequences for the follower. All obstacles to receiving and living the gospel are to be put aside, even our family relationships. Discipleship is primary. The cross has central place.

Jesus illustrates the division he will bring by using the image of a family - the most honored and sacred of all relationships is thrown into jeopardy by Jesus. What does it say about the place of other relationships if the parent/child relationship must be subordinated to the in-breaking of the new age? What does it say about other social structures if the family structure is not immune from the coming of the kingdom? Jesus’ peace holds within it the power to shatter the very foundations of society in order to create a transformed world. We are each called to decide whether we are open to a world shaped by God’s peace or whether we are closed to that transforming, shattering promise.

My six days at Disney were not perfect. I had moments of frustration, moments of anger and definitely moments of weariness. But on the last night that we were all together, something finally dawned on me. This trip, I realized, was not about any one of us, it certainly was not about me. It was about us - about the eleven of us collectively - brought together as a family through the incredible gift of love. And the joy that was to come from those six days together was only going to come if each one of us decided to actively embrace it, to actively live it and to actively share it, which is fortunately what each of us did.
That’s what Jesus is telling us in this passage. Through strange and harsh words, he is saying, “I have a new way of being - it is life-changing and it is good. Embrace it. Live it. Share it.”  Amen.