Prince of Division or Prince of Peace?
Preacher: Marcia C. Wilkinson

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Luke 12:49-56

God’s truth often has a shock effect on us.  At first blow, we are stunned by the realization of a truth which is unpleasant, if not unnerving.  Our gospel message does that today.  Jesus stuns us with his words that he has not come to bring peace.  No, he has come to bring division.  What happened to the angel’s words announcing the good news of Jesus’ birth in the Christmas narrative, the comforting and beautiful heavenly music that the Prince of Peace, long awaited messiah had finally been born?  Can we harmonize the two titles Jesus as Prince of Peace, and Jesus who brings division?

Yes, by understanding that the same Jesus who can and will bring peace, is first the One who came because human kind sits under God’s judgment.  And here this morning this means you and I who need God’s gift of salvation, health, wholeness, forgiveness (together with the deepest and most profound love that is Christ).  What Jesus is saying is that the reality of judgment lies in his ministry.  And, in his coming in the flesh for us lies the necessity for division.  His words to the crowds and his disciples apply to all of us today.

When Jesus spoke “I have a baptism to be baptized” he is not referring to the dipping of his body into the Jordan River.  Rather, his baptism is the arduous journey to the cross.  Jesus’ gift of sacrificial love for the whole world is God’s purpose.  The cross means there is salvation.  If salvation is not received by humanity, then judgment covers us.  “I bring fire on the earth, I have a new baptism, and I am under huge pressure until it is completed” (paraphrased).  Jesus is under stress by his mission and understands his very presence is fire.  Fire is needed to purify the human heart so that new life can grow.  This baptism by fire for our purification is painful because purifying demands choices, and making decisions for God’s truth.

If God’s purpose for us demands our choosing Him, we must know that opposition will come from those who serve a contrary aim.  There are those who divert us, family and friends, false teachers, other traditions and ways of living.   God has already chosen us.  The question is do we choose Him?  What helps us to understand our need for him?

Notice how Jesus gave credit to listeners who understood the signs of nature.  He used an illustration that the people of Palestine would understand.  When the west wind brought moisture inland from the Mediterranean and a south wind brought heat from the Negev dessert at the same time, people could expect that the temperature would be raised by 30 degrees within an hour.  They knew how to interpret this sign in nature, just as we forecast weather accurately today.  But, why couldn’t they interpret the signs of the present time?  Jesus said they weren’t able to interpret because they were hypocrites.

Luke uses the label of ‘hypocrite’ differently.  They are not pretenders, or those who say one thing and do another as in Matthew.  Hypocrites are those who do not perceive what their eyes see, their ears hear.  They are ignorant –concerning their lives under oppressive Roman rule, wealthy high priests that exploit them, and swayed by the false agendas of the Pharisees.  Hypocrites are those who follow others because they are either misdirected in their fundamental understanding of God’s purpose, or they are ignorant of false teachings which they accept as truth.  As ‘hypocrites’, they are incapable of discerning the real meaning of obvious signs.  If they and we are to be discerning, hearts and building of lives must be centered on God’s purpose.  There is a way forward.  And, that is to come to Christ and believe and trust that his great love for us will help us to repent and receive the salvation he brings.  Hearts and minds must not be divided.

For example, there has been much in the church news recently regarding the Episcopal priest who has embraced tenets of Islam and finds no discrepancy with her Christian faith.   I believe this story fulfills the words of the prophet Isaiah (6: 9):  We are ever hearing but cannot understand, and we are ever seeing but not perceiving.  One cannot be both a follower of Jesus and a follower of Islam.  They are not compatible.  One who follows Christ believes Jesus is both human and divine, one with his Father and God’s
Holy Spirit- from before the beginning of time.  The key here is divine.  In Islam Jesus is not identified as one with Allah.  He is but a human prophet.  A prophet points the way to God, but does not save.

While this blending and bringing faith traditions together may seem to be innocent enough, it diminishes, no, it erases Jesus’ own claim that he is “the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by me.”  A musician’s handbook summarizes the dilemma: “If Jesus’ message seems final and even frightening, that’s because to take it seriously means making a genuine choice.  While division is not desirable, it is inevitable, because there is a limit to how far compromise is possible.  We love Jesus’ words of comfort and hope, but are we willing to always acknowledge the full power of his gospel and its implications for our own lives and the life of the world?”

I recognize Christians sometimes are not prepared to stand with the full weight of the gospel.  We do allow ourselves to be divided on important truths where there should be no compromise.  But God’s word has spoken!  God’s word has revealed there is but one way to God.  This is what Jesus meant by bringing division.  If Christ is truth on which we base our lives, there cannot be another.  Many ways to God; the persecuted followers of Christ who exist in refugee camps in Jordan will disagree.  Those who sit in the middle of war at St. George’s Baghdad and fight for their lives with prayer and faith say Christ’s way is the truth.  They know it personally.

What we can say is that people come to Christ in many ways:  through others, the word spoken or read, dreams, personal experiences in which Christ comes as a real presence.  Whether one comes to the Lord one way or another, the coming is the difference.  Receiving the greatest love ever known, in the gift of salvation covers all judgment.

Finally, Jesus’ message reiterates his intent and mission.  We are saved from condemnation because of his sacrificial love, the purifying fire of baptism at Calvary.  We are saved for living our lives in the love of Christ, personally and together as Christ’s Body.  And, we are saved to walk out our beautiful glass doors into the world with the strength of God’s Spirit.  The church, God’s church, exists to bring the gospel to where it is not, to support the church where she is in need, to love what God loves because that is the way of Christ.

And, yes, making choices for Christ will bring division.  Some might say division is reflected in our theological arguments, or various interpretations of Scripture.  While this is true, I do not believe that is the message in Luke 12.  Division exists because of the person of Jesus coming to us.  His word, his teachings, his divinity, his presence today, and his claim to be the way to God are a dividing line. We must choose if he is true, and if we will follow.  Then, only through trust in Christ, will we be able to run and endure the race he has set before us.  Today as we renew our baptismal vows and confess Christ crucified for our sins and new life, we stand upon the truth of God.  And, that, my friends is our peace.  Amen.