Jesus’ fire on earth
Jer 38:4-6, 8-10; Ps 40:2, 3, 4, 18; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53
Whenever I help couples with marriage preparation, I always tell them that they can never know too much about their future in-laws. For better or worse, we are largely the product of the families in which we were raised: what makes us angry, how we express anger, how we deal with conflict, how we express love, what we find humorous and so on.
So when Jesus underscores his desire to “set the earth on fire,” we should pay close attention to the fact that he uses the image of family divisions to illustrate his point. Because family relations are so influential, family conflict can run especially deep and be particularly devastating.
But how could Jesus possibly be desiring such division within our families? We should always be leery of plucking a few lines out of context. It is ludicrous to think that one could read an entire Gospel and come away with the sense that Jesus’ primary aim was to break up families!
Perhaps he uses the image of a divided family precisely because he understands how the crux of his ministry, if fully taken up by his disciples, will require significant sacrifice. The kind of sacrifice he calls for deeply impacts relationships and is always felt at a communal level. But there is no guarantee that the community is interested in sharing the sacrifice.
One of the strongest sacrifices called for is accepting that our lives are not truly our own, that this world is not our final home and that the people we love do not belong to us — all are gifts from God. If we seek to live that reality, then sooner or later we will have to face moments of separation, grieving, sadness, anger and/or fear. None of these are easy to accept, either for ourself or for the people who love us.
One example of this struggle is provided by the Holy Family itself, when Jesus is separated from Mary and Joseph in the temple. When he tells them that his place is in his true Father’s house (Lk 2:49), they must come to terms with the fact that his real home is not with them.
In the face of her anxiety, Mary chooses to hold her thoughts and emotions in her heart, neither denying nor rejecting them. From that contemplative stance, she allows Jesus’ words to become a source of consolation and truth for her.
Unfortunately, most of us lack Mary’s capacity for prayerful pondering in the face of anxiety, fear or anger when family members we love fail to live according to our expectations. Just think of all the challenging interactions you have likely encountered over the years within your own immediate family. We can become possessive, hold grudges, fail to seek or extend forgiveness and struggle to accept others’ choices, to name but a few. Furthermore, our own decisions, even if they are virtuous, can become a source of anger or resentment to others.
The call to a radical self-sacrificial love sometimes unavoidably leads to resistance and division. If you choose to love Jesus with all your heart, sooner or later it will be broken by a world that has not made the same choice.
But the story does not end there. Luke eventually relates the transformational power of the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-12). It would be irresponsible to read Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel without also remembering that we have been blessed with what the disciples in the Gospels have not yet received: the love of Christ as transmitted by his Spirit. What might seem to be insurmountable family divisions can be transcended.
In a recent Sunday Gospel, Jesus told his disciples before the resurrection to “pray for the Holy Spirit” (Lk 11:13). We live in a post-resurrection world to which the Spirit has already come and continues to come.
Think about the influence your family has had upon you. If some of those influences have made it difficult for you to love others as Jesus loves you, then take this Gospel to heart, not as a harbinger of hopelessness, but as an invitation to seek healing. Jesus’ “fire on the earth” doesn’t only burn, it also enlightens.