“I have come for division” (Luke13:51) What Does This Mean?

This coming Sunday, Christians will hear a part of Luke’s gospel which will disturb us, make us squirm a bit in the pew, distract us to think about the upcoming picnic or our favorite team’s exhibition game slated for the afternoon. Jesus’s words are instructional: “I have come to light a fire on the earth…Do you think I have come to establish peace? The contrary is true, I have come for division.” But what about the “Peace on earth, good will to all?” Or “Peace be with you. My peace I give you?” Is this a changed Jesus? Has he become jaded in his efforts to bring peace? 

I think this is a Jesus who is showing the other side of the coin, so to speak. If you want peace, you must work hard for it until it settles like a morning dew on your heart and your life, a welcome manna for a seeking soul. Peace is the flip side of mayhem, chaos, evil. A follower of Jesus must encounter this negative side and work against it in order to get to the positive side of peace. Jesus knew that his message would generate volatility, unrest, unacceptance, distrust. He knew he would face challengers who were held hostage to greed, power, and religious authoritarianism. He knew his message would divide those who wanted to follow him and those who were fearful and angry over his teaching. Jesus points out that his message will divide families, that division is vested in selfishness, coveting in pride one’s own protected thinking, not open to hearing others.                  

Biblical scholars think these words reveal another side of Jesus’s mission. True peace is not easily gained; it is something that must be earnestly pursued, like morning dew settling gently on the searching heart—the manna for the soul longing for God. It’s the ultimate contest of wrestling with evil. Peace is opposed to chaos, and conflict. To truly embrace peace, a follower of Jesus must confront and strive against these negative forces. I picture Jesus quite sad as he shared these words. It appears they were addressed to the disciples at first but then to a possibly gathering crowd if you read a bit beyond verse 53 in Luke 13.

In today’s world, who is not experiencing a division so wounding that we do not bleed? Our families are divided, our church is divided, our country is divided. Who is right?  

Reflection

A little further in this gospel selection, you will read, “You hypocrites! If you can interpret the portents of earth and sky, why can you not interpret the present time? Tell me, why do you not judge for yourself what is just?” Perhaps if we studied the ‘signs of our time’ with accurate sources, credible leaders of our faith and government, we might see the ‘portents’ creating evil in this world. And we might then ask: What part do I play in this?

A local pastor and priest, Father Douglas Koesal, wrote in his parish newsletter recently that evil has a face. He argues that Hitler, Putin, Netanyahu, are faces of evil. Then he goes on: “Projections by researchers show that if USAID cuts continue, more than 14 million additional deaths will occur by 2030, including 4.5 children under 5 years of age, or 700,000 extra child deaths per year. More than twice the six million killed by Hitler.” He asks: “Where is the outrage, the Pope, the United Nations?” He adds another face of evil: the President of the United States. He concludes his newsletter with a challenge: “Prove me wrong. I pray to God you could but you and I both know you can’t.” 

The Gospel for Sunday, August 17, grips the heart and twists it into a struggle leaving our spirits wrestling as good confronts evil. Meditate on this reading throughout the coming week and ask for guidance on what you can do for the sake of justice. The temptation will be to give up or to relent to a joyless faith. But Jesus would have none of that. Whatever efforts we make to bring peace and reconciliation, however seemingly small, are exactly what our God wants us to do. And he wants us to do it with the joy of sharing peace with others. We can do this. We must do this. And we must pray for the leaders mentioned above. Yes, pray for them. Pray that their hearts and minds would see that killing, bombing, starving innocent people is not the way to resolve issues, even those mired in centuries of animosity. Pray that all of us carefully read and correctly “interpret the present time.” 

To all my readers, I encourage you to look beyond your circle of comfort and become part of a group who will welcome you as a minister in the effort of confronting the face of evil.

If you wish to tell us how we can help, please let us know in the response to this post. God wants us to share. It is a form of manna in the desert. I hope your fasting—which we posted about last week—is going well as a prayer for the victims of worldwide violence. And I hope that all of us will become more open to reading the portents of the time as Jesus warns in this gospel.