Lord God, may we love you in all things and above all things. As we listen for Your word today through the Holy Scriptures and in the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts, may we reach the Joy You have prepared for us beyond all our imagining and come closer to thee in our understanding and in our actions when we rise to leave this place of worship. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son. AMEN.
What a teaching we have been given in today's gospel reading!
Just Listen - again listen and ponder what it means, what it means for the world - and what it means for you.
"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 earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, 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 daughter-in- law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
"When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it 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?
Words spoken my friends in hard times about harder times to come.
Times when to speak the name of Christ - would be judged as either insanity or treason, times when to live by his way would be to invite criticism, scorn, anger, pity, and perhaps death. Times when families would be divided among themselves, by the fire in their midst.
And are we exempt from these words in our times?
Perhaps.
Perhaps the that kind of thing is not for us.
Perhaps the time of fire is passing us by. The fire that Jesus wishes were already kindled. The fire that he said he came to bring.
To many people idea of fire is associated with something that is negative, that it is associated with death and destruction, especially if this fire is from God, the God who has said on more than one occasion that "his wrath goes forth like fire", and "that his anger burns like fire".
And thinking of the end of the age, as Jesus surely was as he spoke the words we have heard, well thinking of the end of the age and of the time of judgement, just seems to make some preachers - and I think some congregations, just plain crazy - crazy about the idea of wrath.
God would never do anything nasty some of them will say, God is not wrathful, but if he were - well it is just too nasty to think about in any case so we shall never speak of times of judgement - never speak of pain and of death caused on account of God's plan for the world, for these things are upsetting to us.
Others seem to think that God being really nasty - that God being wrathful - God being judgmental, is a good thing, and perhaps rub their hands in glee at the thought of all that.
Indeed some make fortunes prophesying doom over televison and speaking of eternal life as if it were some kind of heavenly insurance policy that can be purchased by sending them donations. They babble on as if there is no mystery as to how God is going to wrap this story up - pointing fingers at the signs of time and declaring their full meaning, and the exact sequence of things to come - even though Jesus himself said that no man, not even the Son, knew the time, but only the Father.
And so, often, we who listen to those who speak of the fire that Jesus spoke about as the being mainly about the wrath of God are misguided by what they hear - misguided to the left, to mindless hope, with no sense of passion or purity or purpose, no sense of how darkness CANNOT exist in the light, and how light drives out darkness; or to the right, to stern and unloving righteousness, to judgments about others that may or may not be warranted, and which in any case are God's alone to make.....
And yet - and yet Jesus said:
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division"
"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?"
Fire my friends, can be good or it can be bad. But good or bad, fire cannot be ignored.
It was fire that Moses saw in a bush and fire which led the people by night through the wilderness. It was fire that touched the lips of the prophet Isaiah has he was called to proclaim God to Israel and fire that fell upon and consumed the Alter of Baal when Elijah prayed.
"Is not my word like fire", says the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"
Is it not fire that descends upon the heads of the apostles and of all the believers gathered in the upper room?
Yes fire - can mean many things - it can do many things.
Fire - can cook our food - or burn it beyond recognition.
Fire - can warm us or destroy us.
Fire can mean many things, it can do many things, but think on it - fire cannot be ignored.
"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!"
Our Lord wanted fire to come upon the earth, and some see that as a bad thing, as an unkind thing, as words that should be understood as coming from a man facing death very soon, and who was therefore somewhat fixated on the whole question of judgement:
- the whole question of making choices,
- the whole question of discerning one thing from another,
- of dividing good from bad,
- the eternal from the temporal.
And I say - how is that bad? That a man about to die should think on eternally important things?
How is it bad this fire that can do so much good, this fire that Jesus yearns for to be kindled?
Would that there were fire in all of our hearts. Fire to burn off the dross. Fire to bring out the purity of the gold and silver within us - spiritual wealth beyond price. Fire to inflame people to care and to bless one another with all the gifts of faith, in the way fire purified the lips of Isaiah, in the way fire consumed the alter of the false gods, in the way fire led the people through the darkness, through the wilderness.
We need fire. And Jesus came to bring it. Fire to inflame the heart with the love of God and with love for all that he has made, for all whom he has made.
And fire has indeed come. And is coming again. But this coming of fire is not easy. Fire never is. Fire cannot be ignored.
Do you not know the seasons of God - you who know the seasons of this world? Do you not know your devotion, your faith, is mocked by many in this world? And undoubtedly even by members of your own family?
Or do you try to forget that there is a difference between those who live in the light and those who do not? That the darkness really cannot comprehend the light?
Many of my good friends - can't really understand this Christian stuff - they thought I was reasonably intelligent, and perhaps they have finally decided that I really still am so, but they clearly wonder at my sanity.
Other people experience far worse than I. Far far worse. People are killed, people are put into prison, people are persecuted in this day, in this world, because they believe in the name of Jesus. If you have doubts of this, just look at the Middle East you can see many Christians are killed or put into prison.
To them, the words spoken "brother" or "sister" are secret code words that identify them to fellow believers, and which can also be used to identify them to the hostile authorities; code words that speak of a relationship that is beyond that which mere semen and eggs can create.
But - of course - many people do not experience these signs - not even a little bit and that makes me wonder:
Is it because all around them the environment is filled with believers with fire in them as well, and so all their relationships are harmonious and no one ever questions them about their faith? Is it because the kingdom has already come in its fullness? Or is it because the fire is in fact lacking in them and in those all around them - so there is no passion, there is no vitality, there is no life?
"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!"
It is not about judgement. It is not about wrath - as much as it is about mercy. It is about God dividing the day from the night, light from darkness, so that we may all see. It is about love overcoming hatred, life overcoming death - so that we might be united forever with all that lives. It is about laughter instead of sorrow, about wholeness instead of division.
God you see, just might have a very positive means of destroying "the world" by fire.
He might use forces that, while reacted to with great opposition, will actually be healing. He might use forces that, while leading to division amongst people, will actually be uniting.
Earlier in this century the theologian Teilhard de Chardin, wrote:
"Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity we shall harness the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world man will have discovered fire."
The energy of love.
An energy that is like fire - able to lead us in the darkness.
An energy that is like light - which permits us to see.
An energy that is like water - which refreshes and makes new
An energy that is like air - that allows us to live
An energy that is like earth - upon which the kingdom of God will come.
The division is temporary, the peace even now in its midst is eternal; and our prayer as those who walk through the wilderness with only the fire to lead us, our prayer ought to be that all those who are in darkness may be lit by the fire that we see warmed by the fire that warms us, refined by the fire that refines us, and be led to that place where they will call us - even as we now on this day call them - brother and sister
What does it mean this hard teaching of Jesus? And how should it affect our understanding of him and our daily walk with him?
Your heart has the answer. God has put it there.
Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; and love your neighbour as yourself.
All your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.
All.
For the one who is all in all. Blessed be the one, the all, day by day. Amen
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