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"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 yourselves 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!" According to the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), fire references the proclamation of the gospel and the gift of the Holy Spirit. It says that this fire both enlivens the faithful and judges the faithless; it purifies virtue and destroys sin (see Luke 3:16; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
"But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!" Baptism here is a reference to Christ's Passion. In Matthew 20:20-23, the mother of James and John Zebedee, together with her sons, comes to Jesus and asks for a high place for the two of them in Christ's kingdom (on His "right hand and the left"). In Jesus' response, He tells them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" The reference here to His cup is to His crucifixion and His death a baptism. According to the OSB, the Cross is a cup because Christ drank it willingly (Hebrews 12:2), and His death is baptism, for He was completely immersed in it, yet it cleansed the world (Romans 6:3-6). Indeed, in Holy Baptism, the process of being submerged in water and again lifted up is symbolic of death and rebirth in the Spirit.
"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." The OSB tells us that there are two kinds of peace. False peace, to which Christ refers here, is a shallow harmony that results from ignoring issues of truth. But genuine peace is reconciliation to God through faith in Christ and surrender to truth. It says that genuine peace has division as a byproduct, because not everyone wants truth. In the fallen world, divisions are necessary for truth to be manifest (see 1 Corinthians 11:18-19).
"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." This is a fulfillment of the prophecy recorded in Micah 7:6. Besides its literal meaning, which has been experienced in the Church since the time of Christ, there are also symbolic meanings here. According to the OSB, the older generation being divided from the younger generation symbolizes (1) the rejection of the new covenant by 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, the OSB says, is the revelation of the kingdom of God in the first coming of Jesus Christ.
"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." The OSB notes that, just as a guilty person would attempt to reconcile with an opponent before facing an earthly judge, even more so should one be reconciled to God in Christ before facing His dread judgment.
To discern the signs of the time is clearly a skill that is lacking both in the religious leadership whom Christ criticizes for their hypocrisy, and even in the multitudes, whom He also calls hypocrites in today's reading. So, what Jesus is saying is important for all people, not just the religious leadership. We will all be called to face the questions which Christ is effectively putting before people in His teaching. We will all be called to make choices. Do we reconcile with Christ, and the fire which He brings into the world and our lives, or do we not? Christ reminds the crowds that we seek to reconcile with an adversary before we reach the judge. How much more so should we seek to reconcile with God's work in the world, the work of the holy power of God which they can see working through Christ, and the Holy Spirit that He brings with Him in this baptism of fire? Fire recalls the energies of God, as they are characterized in the historic theology of the Church. That is, a holy fire -- as the OSB explains -- which both purifies, burning away what is false and unnecessary, as well as revivifies, making things new. This is the action of the grace and mercy of God at work in the world. We either cooperate and reconcile with this living "fire," or we resist and refuse it. This is a choice which is with us all the time, at every moment. It is with all of us since the advent of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit He has left with us for all, not just a select few in the world. The language Jesus uses in today's text is a warning, and it is apocalyptic. This word comes from the Greek which means to un-hide, or to reveal something, to uncover. (It is the word translated as "Revelation.") The reality Jesus is uncovering here is an absolute one; it is ontological existence and cannot be avoided. He is the scandal, the center of history and even of time, but at the end time or at the end of our lives, we will all face this same reality with which we must deal during our lifetimes. Hence, the urgency of His call to discern the sign of the time. We face the same choice, all the time, and most especially in the span of our worldly lifetimes. There is no getting away from it, no escaping, no hiding from this truth, this reality. This fire cannot be evaded; either we accept and allow it to burn away what it will, or we choose to resist and we ourselves are burned along with whatever it is we hold onto. This is a spiritual fire, and we speak of the soul. But that reality is just as deep and true as our experiences in the material sense of this world.
