I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!

 "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!  Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?  I tell you, not at all, but rather division.  For from now on five in one house will be divided:  three against two, and two against three.  Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is.  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather;' and there is.  Hypocrites!  You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?

"Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?  When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite."

- Luke 12:49-59

On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught, "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourself be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.  Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?"  And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.  Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.  But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.  And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.  For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."

 "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!"   Two important things are happening in these sentences.  Of the first, my study bible tells us that fire "references the proclamation of the gospel and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This fire both enlivens the faithful and judges the faithless; it purifies virtue and destroys sin (see 3:16; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15)."  By contrast here, it says that Jesus' baptism is His own Passion that is in His future.

"Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?  I tell you, not at all, but rather division."  A note says, "There are two kinds of peace.  False peace, to which Christ refers here, is a shallow harmony that results from ignoring issues of truth.  Genuine peace is reconciliation to God through faith in Christ and surrender to truth.  Genuine peace has division as a byproduct because not everyone wants truth.  In the fallen world, divisions are necessary for truth to manifest (see 1 Corinthians 11:18-19)."

"For from now on five in one house will be divided:  three against two, and two against three.  Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."  My study bible tells us that this fulfills the prophecy of Micah 7:6.  "In addition to its literal meaning, which has been experienced in the Church since the time of Christ, the older generation being divided from the younger generation also symbolizes (1) the rejection of the new covenant by the followers of the old covenant, and (2) the spiritual struggle between our old, sinful state and our renewal in Christ (see Ephesians 4:20-24)."

Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is.  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather;' and there is.  Hypocrites!  You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?"   This time is the revelation of the Kingdom of God in the first coming of Jesus Christ, says my study bible.    We are once again reminded of the necessity of discernment, of eyes to see.  That is, eyes like lamps that illumine where we are going.  (See Tuesday's reading, in which Jesus taught, "The lamp of the body is the eye.  Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light.")

"Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?  When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.  I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite."   A note says here, "Just as a guilty person would attempt to reconcile with his opponent before facing an earthly judge, even more so should one be reconciled to God in Christ before facing His dread judgment."  

There is a repeated focus on the necessity of discernment in recent readings; Jesus is preparing His followers for His "baptism" of the Passion, and also the fire on the earth that will come in the form of the Holy Spirit.   Judgment is about how we respond to this fire, the One who tests everything.  The fire is also likened to the "energies" of grace, this great gift pouring out upon the earth after Jesus' "baptism" in the Passion.  This is His mission, and He's giving it to us, laying it all out for us, in today's reading.  This "fire" in the person and energies of the Holy Spirit may divide us.  Truth comes in what appear to be divisions to us, so that we may use our discernment to reconcile with the Spirit, with Christ.  This is the great place where we are now in the state of things, in the world, in the Church as a universal call of the fire of the Holy Spirit, and we are all asked to discern and reconcile, an ongoing work.  If we can see ourselves in this place, as those who need both vigilance and discernment, to make efforts to reconcile ourselves to Christ, in this great fire of the Spirit that is at work all the time, we may get a clearer picture of life as it truly is, inseparable from the life of the Spirit in us and in the world.  It's when we separate this vision out into two, and compartmentalize Spirit as if it is not fire but merely a kind of wispy, ethereal presence we can forget about, that we miss the real vision of how vital our lives and choices really are.  From the beginning, the Church has held to the understanding that we human beings are holistic:  Body, mind, soul and spirit are all inseparable from one another.  Without discernment run the risk of missing the true dynamics of life, separating out the power of God, and thereby the work of the Spirit, from what we focus on as our reality.  The truth is that if we were really aware of what is going on around us, we would understand better this fire and its work and presence, just the way the burning bush appeared to Moses.  But we need eyes to really see and perceive this fire, this energy, this light.  More importantly, Jesus tells us that in this time when we await His return, we need this discernment in order to understand what is going on, and to see more clearly in our own lives where we need to be reconciled, what we need to work on, and all the power and meaning His baptism and this holy fire give our lives.  It's a much more potent, creative life than our dreams and imaginations can stir minus these energies, this grace.  It's also a necessity for spiritual awareness that colors our lives in new ways.  It is inseparable from a search for truth.  The struggle for spiritual truth isn't just about a kind of political struggle based on theoretical abstract and intellectual understanding.  It's not just about laws.  The struggle for spiritual truth involves all of who we are, minus nothing.  That would include the fruits of the Spirit present to us at all times:  love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).   All of these things are also a part of the struggle, energies by grace given to us in order to participate in this search for truth, the wholeness of life, the inseparability of body, soul, mind, spirit.  Let us remember His baptism and the fire He sends, and all that they bring to our lives.  Let us know of the struggle, the vigilance, and the discernment, the fire that must be a part of the life He baptizes us into.