August 19, 2007

For I Have Come To...

Amy:  Jesus, this is the second time I've had to start a sermon like this.  I'm pastor of youth and family ministry.

Jesus: So what's the problem then, pastor?

Amy: Research shows that the family is the best place to teach the faith.  Now here you say you came to divide families.  This doesn't jibe with what I spend my life doing.

Jesus: You are a student of Scripture, aren't you?  Does the Word of God exist just to jibe with what you spend your life doing?

Amy: Well no, but…

Jesus:  Then what's the problem?

Amy:  Ok, imagine your words in our Rally Day celebration, for example.  That's the day we kick off the Sunday School year and get people excited about learning about you.  We talk about how important the family is in the faith life of children.  We even have a song called Prince of Peace.  Don't you think it would confuse people - especially our children - to hear a text like this on Rally Sunday?

Jesus: Amy, you know as well as I do that you can pick anything out of the bible to portray me in almost any way you want.  I don't think you'd actually pick this text for your Rally Celebration.

Amy: Right, we wouldn't!  But people might actually read their bibles and see it there.  I mean, I bet some confirmation student will come to me and say, "Hey, this totally contradicts the beginning of Luke's gospel where the angel says Peace on Earth."  So what am I supposed to say to that confirmation student?

Jesus:  Now that's a good question.  Now we're getting somewhere.

Amy:  We are?

Jesus: Yes.  You're getting warmer.  Closer to the fire, if you will.  Ha ha!

Amy: I am not sure I like the tone of your voice.

Jesus:  AH!  You're getting hotter now!

Amy:  Ok, look, I'm asking for help here - how do I make this text make sense to people?

Jesus: That's the problem.  You can't make it make sense.  You can't crack it - it cracks you.  It's not supposed to jibe with your life, it bursts into your life and creates something new.

Amy:  sigh

Jesus: Look at your attempted method, for example.  I hope you realize how dangerous it is to put words in my mouth like this.

Amy: As dangerous as fire, Lord?

Jesus: Touchez!

Amy: Are you saying maybe I shouldn't keep this up for the whole sermon?

Jesus: Yeah, you might want to stop while you're ahead.  But do not be afraid…and don't try to smooth over the contradiction.

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No, I didn't have a vision of Jesus - he didn't come sit next to me while I was typing and we didn't have this conversation.  But I was hoping for it more than once this week.

So did the angels get Jesus wrong?  Did they miss the memo saying he came to cast fire on the earth?

Before Jesus is born, Zechariah sings of the tender mercy of God and of our feet being led in the way of peace.  The angels sing Peace on Earth at Jesus' birth.  When the adult Jesus heals, he says, Your faith has made you well; go in peace.  When he sends his disciples out, he tells them to say, "Peace to this house" as the first thing they do.  Before his crucifixion, he weeps over Jerusalem and says If only you recognized the things that make for peace.  After his resurrection, Jesus comes to the scared disciples and says, "Peace be with you."

But Luke never tells us it's going to be easy, never lulls us into thinking Jesus' message is met entirely with open arms.  John the Baptist says, "every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  John says Jesus is coming to gather the wheat and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.

John calls for radical generosity and honest living; he criticizes Herod for marrying his brother's wife.  Word gets around, and for his honesty and boldness, John gets himself thrown in prison.  Luke never tells us the kind of peace the angels announce will come without cost, never pretends that the radical message of Jesus will be met with open arms.

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division."

It's not 'meek and mild'-ness that gets Jesus crucified.  It's fiery honesty.  He doesn't play nice with the political or religious hierarchy, or with the locals - he doesn't even play nice with his own hometown.  He means business, apparently; he came to bring division.  It's business we might not want to be done if the dividing has anything to do with us.

I want to say Jesus' ministry and message are received.  I want to say Zebedee is thrilled when his 2 sons leave the family fishing business to follow Jesus.  I want to say the sick he heals and the outcasts he touches all go back to their communities and are welcomed warmly and live in harmony again.  I want to say people are grateful for the way Jesus sets them free from ceremonial purity and the way he challenges the reigning interpretation of the law.

But a broken world too often wants to stay broken.  The things that enslave you - you might want to hang onto them instead of throwing them off.  Throwing them off means repentance and a risky freedom that trusts God more than you trust yourself.  In a world that wants to stay broken, there will be trouble when Jesus comes with healing.  In a world that wants to stay broken, Jesus healing is like fire.

In a broken and sinful world, Jesus' truth telling is divisive.  In a world where 'peace' means the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, Jesus will divide.  Mary gets it.  She sings, "My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.  He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and has put down the mighty from their thrones.  He has exalted those of low degree, and filled the hungry with good things."  Good news if you're Mary - bad news if you're Mighty.

In every time and in every place, this message is disturbing in some way to the status quo, to business as usual, to the political and religious hierarchies of the world, of our families, and of our own hearts.  Jesus comes to bring division.  Division first and foremost of our way of thinking.

False prophets will always claim peace when there is really none.  Jesus won't allow this deception.  He doesn't soothe what should be disturbed.  He won't bring a peace that ignores sin, brokenness, and injustice.

The angels didn't miss the memo.  They don't mislead us when they sing Peace on Earth.  They sing about more than a political peace and more than a peace of mind that restores inner balance.  This peace is about more than just someone who puts down a gun.  Luther reminds us that we kill with the tongue too, and with the heart.

Jesus creates peace between God and God's people - and he faces the world's fiery judgment at the cross to do it.  But it's not 'meek and mild'-ness that gets him there.  It's his fiery honesty and his radical call for repentance.  In a broken and sinful world, Jesus' ministry of healing upsets the way things are.  He proclaims release to the captives.  That's threatening.  He calls us to love those who hurt us.  That's asking a whole lot.  In service of love, Jesus fails to follow the laws of the day.  That's suspect.  He proclaims a salvation based on God's mercy and not our efforts.  That means trusting God more than I trust myself.  His peace is so radical that it divides.  It's so demanding that it's rejected.

And Jesus' word is so complete in its 'no' that only a 'yes' can possibly rise from the ashes of this fire.  From the cross itself he cries, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Out of this forgiveness, the church rises, in song, in praise, and in repentance.  In Luke's sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, tongues of fire divide - it's the same word there as here Luke - tongues of fire divide and rest on the disciples, filling them each with the Holy Spirit and empowering them to hear and to heal.

Sisters and brothers, maybe you're quirky like I am and you have a lot to ask Jesus.  But even with its contradictions, Scripture gives us enough to go on: Do not be afraid, says Jesus, for I have come to bring division.