Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
Our gospel lesson at first appearance seems to go against the picture we have in the scripture of how Jesus brings peace to the earth. What do we make of this reading? “I came to cast fire on the earth.” Was Jesus having a bad day? Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did he encounter earlier in the day the 1st century version of summer construction season on the road to Jerusalem? Should we just disregard this portion of scripture and move onto a more uplifting focus?
How do we explain the passion in which Jesus insists he has come for division, not unity? The answer is really quite simple- it all depends on what is meant by unity and division. There are two types of unity. There is the unity between God and man, the common ground we have with our God because he loves us and has brought us into right relationship with Him. From this union with God, we can have unity with one another through our common position of those who have received undeserved mercy and grace.
The other type of unity is the unity that people form for themselves out of their own self interests. Unity comes from whatever commonalities we have with others, same country, same career, same family, same favorite color, same favorite football team. In many cases man made unity has been formed despite differences out of necessity, need for survival, or convenience. The greatest common denominator of all efforts of unity is our sinful human nature to want our own self interests to be filled. If we get along with others and don’t disagree too much than we can all get what we want- or so we believe.
Jesus did not come to facilitate the growth of man made unity. We do just fine on our own finding causes for unity. Going back to the tower of Babel, we see that humans have no trouble coming together to make a name for themselves.
Jesus came in fact to break this type of unity, this false sense of security in our coming together as humans, thinking we do not need God. Jesus came to bring division to this type of unity out of love for us. On the cross Jesus took our foolish efforts at unity and turned them to shame.
If you read through the passion accounts, you see plenty of instances of human unity going on in the process of the betrayal of Jesus, the trial, and the sentence of crucifixion. Judas made an alliance of unity with people he would not other wise associate with. The scribes and Pharisees paid 30 coins to Judas to put into effect their plan to silence Jesus and resume the status quo of the alliance between the money changers, the Pharisees, the Romans and everyone else who stood to gain from a corrupt practice of religion. Pontius Pilot chose unity with the angry mob over his initial conviction that Jesus had done nothing wrong. “If you let this man go you are no friend of Caesar.” The people chose Barabbas, a leader of revolt against the Romans, a robber and murdered, a hero at forging human unity through force of will
Yet Jesus turned this all upside down because he willingly gave his life, because his death on the cross was not just as a sacrificial lamb for political advantage and convenience- but a the true lamb of God who was taking on all of the sin of the world on the cross onto himself so that we could once again have Unity- Unity with God.
Jesus came to the earth to bring division against human attempts at saving themselves. Jesus spoke of the baptism of fire that he has to undergo- And how great is my distress until this is accomplished. His distress was great not because of fear and tembling for how hard it will be, but out of eagerness to fulfill the task for which he came. The cross brings division. Those who accept it as life and salvation and those who do not.
The division is not simply between believers and unbelievers- but between the parts of us that want things our own way and the parts of us that submit to Christ. We heard in the Introit: “But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. 14 We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.”
Even within the body of Christ we can find enemies, through the division of the cross, the division that God’s Word brings. Law and gospel, those who need the law and wont hear it. Those who need the gospel and can’t believe it is for them. Both alike reject Jesus in favor of trusting in themselves.
What about our world today and our church. We see division. The division is not simply about political battle lines drawn in the sand- but more precisely between those who are obedient to speaking God’s Word of truth and those false prophets who speak their own message: We heard in Jeremiah- “They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
“No disaster shall come upon you.” Is exactly what people taunted and jeered Noah about before the flood. It is a fearful thing to believe false messages of security when God’s Word gives the opposite.
In the name of Christian love our own brothers and sisters in Christ in other denominations- particularly mainline protestant churches like the ELCA have made a central focus on telling people “it shall be well with you,” in a way that by some coincidence resembles everything our culture says in the way of socially progressive positions.
A recent book By an ELCA pastor named Nadia Volzt Webber called “Shameless” tries to make the case that through the gospel there is conveniently no such thing as sexual immorality. Sadly as a church they are no longer teaching ideals of chastity and the clear teaching of scripture about the sanctity of marriage as the setting in which God intends for the one flesh union of man and woman.
Indeed it is painful to see a family member so to speak, a church with the name Lutheran to elevate the fulfillment of human lust as more important to the church than fulfillment of God’s Word. With a sly deception this largest of Lutheran churches in America has pastors talking about how they are faithful to the gospel- but they do not say they are faithful to the scripture. They do not believe God’s Word cuts to the core between what is right and what is wrong, who is a false prophet and who is speaking God’s Truth.
Psalm 55 addresses the question of division close to home so to speak: For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion
An enemy we can at least expect to harm us. An adversary we can avoid and write off- but how much harder it is when a close friend or a family member puts us at a cross roads by their beliefs.
When someone close to you makes choices in life that you see are apart from God’s Word it brings a number of mixed feelings. One the one hand you want to be loving and kind and think the best of someone who is close to you.
You might feel the only way to make sense out of the situation is to convince yourself that this particular choice is not that big of a deal to God. You tell yourself that this choice someone made is because they have been through hard circumstances or so many other people in the neighborhood also used drugs for example.
If it is a gray enough area then you can’t hold someone to blame can you? Sometimes we just agree to disagree and then we can all live happily ever after. But agreeing to disagree is the agenda of the world, not God’s agenda. Agreeing in a small thing one instance can lead to agreeing in larger things. One generation to another the slippery slope cascades its way toward the path of unbelief.
God’s Word is like a hammer that breaks rocks to pieces- it is not neutral leaning or gray in its message, but swift and precise with results in our lives that are unmistakable. God’s Word is precise in calling sin for what it is: sin. No gray areas, no exclusions or exceptions based on circumstances.
When we follow God’s Word it will bring us division with those who do not follow God’s Word- even those who are close to us! We would like to pretend that we can all get along, but this is the world’s definition of peace. Jesus has not come for this type of peace- but instead for true peace that comes through fire- the fire of the cross.
There is great value in the words of Jesus for us this morning, so that we see this world’s idea of peace and unity is not what we need. Jesus calls us to something more lasting and perfect- the peace we can have with him, that transforms our hearts and transforms our minds.
We need not fear the division proclaiming the cross may bring to our lives. We do not need the world’s unity, and we can endure whatever persecutions come our way because of the unity we have with Jesus.