Today’s scripture: Luke 12:49-53 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Jeff Miner):
We’re used to thinking of Jesus as always gentle, the ultimate peacemaker. So it’s rather startling to hear him say, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
What the heck!
What on earth is he talking about? Why is Gentle Jesus threatening earth with fire?
The answer is found in the next verse. “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed.” Have you ever heard the phrase “baptism by fire”? It refers to “a very difficult first experience of something.” (Source: TheFreeDictionary.com.) That’s what Jesus is talking about in this passage. He faced a baptism by fire, and so did many of his followers.
Although his teachings were bringing peace to the hearts of many, they were also stirring controversy and creating divisions, even within households. For example, Joanna, the wife of King Herod’s steward Chuza, had become a follower of Jesus (Luke 8:3). As a chief advisor to King Herod, Chuza was part of an administration aiming to bring Jesus down, yet his wife had gone and become one of Jesus’ key followers. Imagine what Chuza and Joanne’s dinner conversations must have been like! Peaceful? I think not. I can hear Chuza shouting, “My boss — King Herod — regularly refers to himself as ‘King of the Jews.’ Now you’ve gone and pledged your allegiance to someone the peasants are proudly proclaiming to be the real ‘King of the Jews.’ Keep up this nonsense and you’re gonna get me decapitated!”
Nevertheless she persisted. (Elizabeth Warren wasn’t the first. J) Joanna wouldn’t relent.
As Jesus said, “From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.” Given the controversy Jesus’ message was stirring, he knew his ministry was moving toward a climatic showdown. Soon he would be arrested, tortured, and executed — his baptism by fire. “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!”
Nevertheless he persisted.
And that’s the point. There are times in life when we will feel called to do something controversial — our baptism by fire. When that time comes, will we have the courage, like Jesus, to press forward?
Ten years ago, I sat quietly in the guest balcony that overlooks the Indiana Senate Chamber. On the floor below, the Senate Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing, trying to decide whether to approve legislation to ban gay marriage. At the moment the first “yes” vote was cast, my responsibility was to stand up and shout, “Shame!” That would signal about 50 others in the balcony to stand up and chant, “Shame! Shame! Shame!” until they kicked us out. As I sat there awaiting my moment of controversy, I so wished I could be somewhere else. I wished I could be in the woods, alone, running my dog. Somewhere peaceful.
But I had no choice. If I was going to stand with Jesus and Joanna, I had to persist. I had to summon the courage to stir controversy. When the moment came, I stood up and shouted.
Thought for the day: What courageous, controversial thing is God calling you to do or say?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.