“I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three, a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:49-53 New American Bible translation)
OMG! This scripture verse flies in the face of all we have come to know as the message of Jesus Christ. “To set the earth on fire?”, “how I wish it were already blazing?” Division rather than peace? What is going on here? What happened to peace, gentleness, humility? Let’s take a deeper look:
First of all, we know Jesus “came so that we could have life and have it to the full.” He came for our SALVATION, the rest is up to us – our peace is determined by our actions, our free will. In essence, he wiped the slate clean for us. He came to give us a fresh start, out with the old and in with the new so to speak. What happens in a fire – old things are destroyed and we are forced to start anew – hopefully with a new perspective, better than before. THAT is what I believe this verse is telling us.
Jesus agonized over his fate. We know this from the story of the agony in the garden. Despite his agony, he followed through with the will of His Father. This is what I think He means by “how I wish it were already blazing” – He wishes all was right with the world so He wouldn’t have to go through the “baptism” He mentions, which refers to His death on the cross.
Finally, we know that Jesus’ message and belief in Him causes much division in the world and even in many families. I know for myself, coming from a large family, we have all kinds – passionate believers, lukewarm believers and even some nonbelievers. The important thing to remember, if your family resembles mine, is we are divided in mind but NOT heart! So yes, He came to establish division because of His message, but that just means disagreement. We can agree to disagree, but let us never lost sight of our love for one another. It is through that love that we are united!
I once saw a bumper stick that read: “NO GOD, NO PEACE – KNOW GOD, KNOW PEACE!” – How true it is, I see it manifested in my own life – but I’d like to go out on a limb here and say “NO LOVE, NO GOD – KNOW LOVE, KNOW GOD.” Say what you want about your belief system – atheist, agnostic, etc., if you KNOW LOVE (love another, love of nature, love life), then I believe God is in your heart and its only a matter of time before He reveals Himself and makes a believer out of you. My God does not give up on his beloved! Just a little hope for those of you experiencing division in your family. May God bless you!
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