Ninth Sunday after Trinity
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze! ”
Summary
I came to bring fire to the earth” Jesus tells us in Luke 12:49-56. For Luke’s contemporary audience, who had lived through the sacking of Jerusalem and the burning of towns and villages, this fire was all too literal.
Yet fire has many uses both literally and metaphorically. In Jeremiah 23:23-29 the word of God is described as fire. The people have been listening instead to deceitful words offering false comfort and security, telling them just what they want to hear. In contrast the fire of God’s word burns away what is false and reveals the reality of their situation. The truth will set you free but first it will first piss you off.
As Jesus points out, when the truth is contested, the result will be division. Although this feels like the opposite of peace it is a necessary prelude to building a just peace. The peace that earthly powers is too often an unjust peace bought at a price borne by the world’s poorest and weakest. The peace that Jesus offers is not “of this world”, it requires the destruction of structures and practices that lead to suffering and inequality. As Luke’s community knew all to well, taking a stand against injustice often incites the anger of those who have vested interests in the status quo.
How did God’s people then, and how do we today, test the words we hear? How do we distinguish between hearing what we want to hear and hearing the uncomfortable truths that we need to hear? Are we willing to open our ears to the cry of the prophets, old and new calling us to change in order that the world too may be changed and God’s kingdom may come?
FIRST READING
Jeremiah 23:23-29
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
GOSPEL
Luke 12.49-56
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
