A Spark of Lightning (December 13, 2015--Bulletin Article)

 

“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on the earth? No I tell you but division.” (Luke 12:49-51)

 

With this statement, directly from Jesus’ lips, the idea of a tame or weak Jesus—the Jesus who offends and troubles no one—explodes! Jesus was seen in his own time as a fiery prophet: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah (Matthew 16:14). He was accused by the Jewish leadership of being a trouble-maker, an insurgent, a rebel. So when Jesus claimed he had come to “bring fire on the earth” we need to understand what Jesus understood about his own life. He understood his coming, his appearance in this world, would change everything—violently, totally.

It seems every year California suffers from another round of devastating wildfires, as if we needed reminding that these fires are damaging and unpredictable. Though many can be traced to human carelessness and choice (arson) some estimates say sixty percent are the result of lightning strikes—something we humans have neither caused nor requested. Still, whether requested or not, we must contend with the consequences, for human life and limb are in danger!

 

This same set of circumstances can also refer to Jesus’ coming. His coming was not the result of human causation or choice; like lightning, it originated (as it were) in heaven. Yet, once he came to earth, once he underwent the “baptism” he alluded to in the verses above—that is, his immersion in the experience of suffering and death on the cross—a fire was lit that, once kindled, would spread out and undermine, even destroy, what were once undisturbed, peaceful relationships! Jesus himself went on to say in this very context, indeed, the very next verse: “From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three...father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother…” (Luke 12:52-53) Jesus, by his death (the baptism he had to undergo) introduced a choice that people must now make. There is no neutral territory when it comes to Jesus and the choice to follow him affects the deepest places in our lives.

Though we did not start this fire, it has come none the less. And now we must decide: what we will do about Jesus—for life and limb are at stake!