Luke 12:49-56
"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! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Last week, if you were here, we had a little laugh with that clip from “Will and Grace” – of Jack refusing to see the real, live Cher as anything more than a drag queen, wannabe, impersonator until she sings for him, slaps him across the face and tells him to snap out of it. Then he finally gets it. Then, he sees the light and recognizes her for who she really is.
Today, Jesus’ words feel like a slap across the face and an invitation to snap out of it and pay attention a little differently to who Jesus is.
“You hypocrites! You can interpret the signs of the earth and the sky but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” “You say it’s going to rain and it does.” “You say it’s going to be hot and it happens.”
He could say the same to us. “You know so many things. You have learned and understand so much. You can predict the rain DAYS, if not WEEKS, in advance. You have technology in your homes to manage the scorching heat and the bitter cold when it comes. You have a telescope that just spotted two galaxies 60 million light-years away and your scientists have predicted that their gravity is pulling them together so that they will be one galaxy in something like 500 million years.”
“You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
And our present time is marked by the kind of “division” Jesus seems to speak of and warn about, isn’t it? How often do we talk about the notion – and the reality – of the political division in our country right now? We’re divided by party and presidential preference. We’re divided on issues and ideas about guns and abortion, immigration and civil rights, climate and the economy. We’re divided about what we believe the facts and the truth of the matters at hand to be, even. And it seems like our disagreements have devolved into a next-level sort of division that might have surprised even Jesus.
It’s so bad that extremists storm the Capitol, radicals attack FBI buildings, and that “#civilwar” was trending on Twitter this week. And that’s just in our little corner of the world.
And it’s not just politics, of course. So much of that plays itself out in the Church, too. Our friends in the United Methodist Church are divided and divvying things up, as we speak, over human sexuality – much like we ELCA Lutherans did a dozen or so years ago. Fundamentalist – so called “evangelical” – Christians draw lines in the sand about who’s in and who’s out, who’s welcome and who’s not. Christian nationalists wrap all of it up in the same bag or flag, as it were – their politics and their myopic, self-interested understanding of Jesus, I mean.
It’s frustrating and sad and scary to me. And it’s why Jesus’ words today feel like a slap in the face and an invitation to snap out of it – this division that threatens to consume us.
And, while Jesus doesn’t spell out the answer for the intricacies of our particular struggles with everything that divides us these days … while he seems to indicate that that might even be part of the plan … he points to something bigger that means to cover the multitude of our sins in that regard: his own baptism, and ours, if we’ll let it.
But, when Jesus says, this morning, that he has yet to be baptized with the baptism for which he showed up, it matters that he’s already been to the river. And the people listening to him would have known that. He was baptized by John way back in chapter 3 of Luke’s Gospel, remember, with the water and the dove and with God’s declaration that he was the beloved Son, and all the rest.
So it’s worth noticing here, nine chapters and however many days and weeks later, that when Jesus talks about “the baptism” for which he has come and “the baptism” for which he is being made ready; and when he tells of the stress he’s under until that “baptism” is complete, he’s talking about the “baptism” of his death on the cross. He’s talking about the crucifixion he knows is coming. He’s talking about whips and thorns and blood and tears. He’s talking about abandonment and loneliness and betrayal and the dying that follows it all.
He’s pointing to the one event in all of human history that is meant to supersede, cover, mend and undo all that divides us and that pretends to separate us – from each other and that some pretend will separate us from the love of God, too. That one event is the fulfillment of his baptismal call and promise as the Son of God – his death on the cross and his resurrection to new life in spite of it.
And he’s pointing to the notion that the good news of this for those of us who follow him, is that our lives are to be influenced by the fullness of this kind of grace and mercy, so that we are moved toward a different kind of life in this world that transcends all of the divisions that otherwise threaten us and keep us apart on this side of heaven.
And I happen to believe that our unique understanding and expression of grace – as ELCA Lutherans when we get it right, anyway – sets us up to live differently in this divided world.
I once heard someone describe ours as a “Both-And” church in an “Either-Or” world. The ELCA is a “Both-And” church, in an “Either-Or” world. And I like that. Because in all the ways that make some others want to distance themselves from us – all the divisive things we do when it comes to extending grace with no strings attached like opening the communion table to anyone and everyone, like ordaining women, like loving and affirming LGBTQ+ children of God because of who they are, not in spite of it, like seeking “social justice” as the work of Jesus, not as some sort of political four-letter-word) – when we do those things, we’re really just a church relentlessly, vulnerably, humbly sharing grace in ways that make room for everyone to come together under the banner of God’s love and forgiveness; under the promise of Christ’s death and resurrection for the sake of the whole wide world – as God intends.
And my faith tells me that none of the divisions that separate us now will last forever because the Jesus we proclaim is a BOTH-AND savior for an EITHER-OR world, too. And if we can believe that, own that, and live like that’s true, it may separate us from others who don’t want to play along, but we’re promised that none of these divisions have to last forever. And, in the meantime, we can trust and hope and maybe see for ourselves that God can do amazing things through what otherwise looks like division.
I decided that maybe the division Jesus is talking about doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds, if we consider some of what Scripture has to show us:
-In the Old Testament, rocks are split open – divided – to give up life-saving water to those wandering around thirsty in the desert…
-The Red Sea was separated – divided – so that the Israelites could escape to freedom on dry ground…
-The earth shook and was divided so that Saints could be raised from the dead…
-And, at his baptism in the river, the very heavens were divided – ripped open and torn apart – so that the Spirit of God could descend upon Jesus and declare him to be God’s beloved.
These images of division and separation show us something new and honest and holy about it all: Division can quench a thirst, with God’s help… Separation can lead to freedom, when God is involved… Tearing apart can make room for the Spirit of God… And brokenness can lead to healing and new life.
In other words, the very things that divide us too much of the time – and for very good reason – are precisely the reasons why, I think, God calls us to be together in spite of ourselves. I think the moments when we gather for communion or touch the shared waters of our baptism – or even pour coffee for, or pass a donut, or serve others, together, in spite of our differences – in those moments, God is doing for us something we might otherwise refuse or avoid doing for ourselves.
So let’s not be so afraid, let’s not deny, let’s not avoid each other or those things that divide us. And, let’s not let them be so divisive that they stand in the way of the Good News of the Gospel, either. Let’s keep doing what we do in spite of our differences, in spite of our divisions so that, in the space between us – even when we can’t – God might create room for peace, for reconciliation, for forgiveness; and we might make room, then, for the kind of grace we all need and that comes by way of the life, death and resurrection promised to us all – and for the sake of the world – in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen
