I came to bring fire

All over the world church services begin with the words “Peace be with you.” I wonder how we would respond if we were to greeted with the words “The fire of the Lord be upon you.” For many of us our gospel reading will have left us uneasy. (Tenth Sunday after Pentecost. Proper 15 (20) Luke 11:29-12:2.) Most of us are more comfortable and familiar with the healing touch of Jesus and his compassion for those in most need. Fire sounds too much like judgment and punishment. But might not fire also be healing?

Personally, we might associate fire with destruction as in house fires and wild fires. And religiously we might associate fire with judgement and punishment. But fire can also be about warmth and comfort and Biblically fire can also be like the renewing refiner’s fire. Given the state of our world maybe an empowering greeting might be “The fire of the Lord be upon you, or within you!”?

You may like to read what I wrote three years ago focusing on the process of transformation.

Fire as part of the Process

After all fire in the domestic life provides warmth, the means to cook and wash, and even wild fire can have a regenerative outcome. And Biblically fire has many very positive and powerful associations such as Moses and the burning bush making visible the power and presence of the invisible God, the firey coal that touches the unclean lips of the prophet Isaiah so that he is ready to speak the word of God, and we have reference to the refiner’s fire – the purifying effect of trials and tests. I think all of those associations are relevant when coming to some understanding of this gospel story.

As I often say when we are approaching apparent opposites in the spiritual life we are being invited to hold the transformative tension and find the holy third way. This week we are being asked to grapple with our image of a benevolent merciful God and images associated with judgment; to hear Jesus who we rightfully associate with mercy, compassion, and healing, claim images of fire and destruction. So, with all this in mind let us approach the words of Jesus to discern what he might have been saying to his first century followers and what he might be saying to us.

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptised, 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!” And the division he goes on to describe is division within the family. This is surely one of the reasons we find this so confronting because isn’t Jesus all for happy families? Well, not in any sweet and easy way.

But what on earth can Jesus have against families? Well in the first century there were several great divides in society. One was gender, another was class, another was race and religion, and the other was family - indeed within the family all these great divides met. Family was the social unit of cohesion in which people were born, raised and bound in such a way that increased the likelihood of survival and some meagre increase in wealth over the generations. As such it was a powerful institution for the good of the individual and community. But it was also a place of limitation both binding the individual to the expectations of the family and excluding others. It meant that those born into poor classes had no hope of ever having freedom or improvement. For example, if you were born into a certain family with a certain trade you would rarely in your whole life be ritually clean enough to attend Temple and take your part in the religious life of the community. Or if you developed a certain disease you would be outcast from the community and maybe even your family.

The institution of the family was a building block of the community but also a stumbling block for inclusion in the kingdom of God and Jesus declares that the bonds of family needed to be loosened in order for that greater belonging to take place. Indeed, in the Matthew version of this story a sword rather than just division is spoken of. And in Hebrews 4:12 the word of God is described as “living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; being able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart”. The bonds of family need to be cut across in order that we are free to belong to the bigger family of God. And in that greater belonging we can of course love our family members along with others. In this way at least images of swords and fire can be seen to have a whole of community healing impact even though the process sounds very disturbing.

And this is not the only aspect of the community being judged or found wanting. The language of Isaiah and the judgement against the vineyard that produced sour grapes despite having been lavished with all that a vineyard could need for a sweet vintage suggests that the faithfulness of the whole community has been found lacking.

So how does this relate to us, how do the words of Jesus impact us here and now? Now in contemporary society some of us are quite comfortable with being loosed from our families of origin, or at least some members of it! For some separation from family is essential to their wellbeing. And sadly for some health and joy require a recovering from vile and violent religious beliefs and behaviour. So, for some of us separation is good for us and our health.

But what sources of identity might we enjoy belonging to and that we struggle to recognise the need to let go of these distractions and self protections. I think we need to allow the words of fire and division to divide bone and marrow, spirit and soul, and pierce through our comfortable belongings to where the divine spark is imbedded in our very being and nature, to where our true self is available to encounter the true self of others. We need to step outside our usual divisions and groups in order to step into the larger circle of the family of God, the family of all humanity and creation.

For the gospel call is to love, to love all, not only the particular few who are by accident and desire, our family or ‘tribe’! The call of discipleship is to stand in solidarity with the least and the lost, those we do not necessarily easily see our connection with. Therefore, while we remain bound too closely to our particular family or social group we are not as available to the rest of God’s family.

And the call to be a just and merciful community may just need the cleansing experience of fire and renewal before we can truly be available and merciful to others! So let us hear the challenge of this week’s gospel – the fearful voice of judgement and discernment - and also the passionate mercy and life giving intention for us and others – the voice of invitation into the larger belonging of the kingdom of God.

Even so, come Lord Jesus Christ, come and save us from our smallness of vision.

This is my work informed by everything I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others. This week I am especially grateful to:

Cynthia Bourgeault writes at https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-third-way-with-cynthia-bourgeault-2016-08-26/

John T Squires  has a very helpful commentary of the Isaiah passage and Luke http://johntsquires.com/2019/08/15/coming-to-grips-with-the-judgement-of-god-luke-12-and-isaiah-5/