Disruptions
Luke 12:49-56[1]
I would say that the
word “disruption” has become something of a “four-letter-word” for most of us.
We’ve all had about as much “disruption” as we’d care to deal with for a while,
thank you very much. After more than two years of changes that have affected
all of life, from top to bottom, some of us may still be holding on to the pipe
dream that someday, somehow, things will go back to “normal.” The rest of us
have realized that’s not going to happen. The world has changed. Those changes
have shaken up everything, and they will continue to do so for some time to
come. We can either try in vain to hold back the tide, or we can start learning
to use the disruptions in our lives to move forward into the “new normal.”
I would also say that
we don’t tend to think of our faith as something “disruptive.” Our faith
undergirds and supports the way we live our lives. We look to Jesus to give us
strength for today and to comfort our fears about tomorrow. The image of Jesus
welcoming children, feeding the hungry, and embracing the outcasts, is one that
we cherish. But I’m not sure we can recognize how disruptive most of those
activities were and still are today. It’s hard for us to imagine an angry
Jesus, driving people and livestock out of the courts of the temple because
they were keeping people from using them as a place to offer their prayers to
God his Father.
All of that leads me
to say that I think what Jesus says in our Gospel lesson for today must sound
shocking to most of us. We’re used to thinking of him as “gentle Jesus, meek
and mild.” But here he says that he has come to bring fire and division, not
peace! That sounds so contrary to what we believe about Jesus that it may be
painful and confusing to even hear it. Is this really the same person whom the
angels celebrated with the joyful announcement of “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14)?
After sending out his disciples to bring “peace” to as many towns and villages as
possible (Lk 10:1-12), did Jesus decide to scrap the plan? What is this “fire”
and “division” Jesus is talking about?
One of the things we
have to understand about this lesson is that Jesus lived in a world that was
rigidly structured around certain classes of people. And in that day, your
place in the world was based on how “holy” you looked, at least on the outside.
Or it was based on how much you owned, and how many people you could force to
do your bidding because they “owed” you. Into that world, Jesus came offering
God’s love freely to anyone and everyone. He preached the gospel of God’s
goodness to all people, regardless of their place in society. And all his talk
of a kingdom of God where the first are last and the last are first overturned
the way the whole world worked. It was disruptive, to say the least!
Jesus’ message
threatened everyone who had worked hard to climb their way to the top of the social
ladder by virtue of their “holiness,” or their wealth, or their power. When
Jesus offered release to the captives, freely, and without any conditions, he
undercut the position of all those who stayed in power by keeping people in
chains. When Jesus offered forgiveness to sinners, again freely and
unconditionally, he undermined the whole religious structure that that was
based on how “holy” people looked on the outside. As you can imagine, a lot of
them didn’t like that. It was a threat to their very way of life. And they
responded to him with rage and hatred, and they killed him for it.
Think about it: when
anyone has the nerve to look at the way things are and say, “this isn’t right,”
it has an unavoidable effect: it divides people. Those who benefit from the how
things stand will fight tooth and nail to oppose anyone who tries to change
things for the benefit of the “least of these.” That’s why Jesus said he had
come to bring division. He didn’t shy away from exposing the wrongs in society.
The truth behind our Gospel lesson for today is that Jesus did come to bring peace, but it’s a kind of peace that comes with a
cost. The peace that Jesus brings will only come from righting the wrongs in
this world, especially those that benefit the privileged few. It’s a kind of
peace that will only come from exposing the untruth that maintains the
brokenness of our world.
The Peace that Jesus
came to bring into our lives also brings with it the strife and division that
God’s truth provokes among those who benefit from sticking with “business as
usual.” I think Jesus made this shocking announcement about bringing fire and
division, even into people’s families, in order to warn his disciples that
those who benefit from the way things are won’t like it when we really start
“seeking” the kingdom of God. That’s where the The bottom line is for us: how
far do we go in advocating this kingdom where the first are last and he last
are first? After all, we do have to live in this world where “holiness,”
wealth, and power still determine one’s place in the world.
When we start talking
about God’s love extended to everyone freely, some folks are going to be
offended. When we really buy into extending God’s goodness everyone without any
conditions, some are going to get angry. When we get serious about advocating
for the values of God’s kingdom where the last are first, those who like the
way things are will call us all kinds of names. Or worse! Truth be told, most
of us prefer to avoid that kind of conflict. We don’t want to “rock the boat.” But
if we’re serious about wanting to follow Jesus, we’re doing to have to figure
out just how far we’re willing to take it. And that may mean that we’ll have to
learn to accept the ways our commitment to Christ will bring disruptions into
our lives.
[1] ©
2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/14/2022 for Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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