The Sánchez Archives TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME Year C

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

Fire! Division!

JEREMIAH 38:4-6, 8-10
HEBREWS 12:1-4
LUKE 12:49-53

Fire! - the very mention of this word stirs fear in the human heart. Indeed so horrific is the potential of fire to destroy life and reduce to ashes even the most solid and sturdy of structures that it is a crime to irresponsibly shout this word in a public place! Every year, forest fires, fed by powerful desert winds, burn a wide swath of destruction across miles and miles of land. Every year, through carelessness and maliciousness, lives are lost, homes are leveled, and many lose their means of livelihood to fire. So dreaded is the mere specter of fire that it has, since ancient times, been associated with the retribution to be suffered by the evil and unrepentant after death. Given the ordinary human regard for and experience of fire, it seems strange (if not shocking!) that Jesus would claim that he had come to light a fire on earth and, that he wished for the blaze to be ignited (gospel).

Strange, as well, is Jesus’ admission that he had come among us not for peace but for division. Divisiveness, like a canker, erodes the social, political, emotional and psychological bonds that bind us, one to another. Divisiveness is spawned by antagonism, distrust, hostility and often erupts into war. Divisiveness eats away at the viable network of human society, leaving lonely, disconnected isolates in its wake. Why then would Jesus choose to characterize his purpose and mission in terms of fire and division? Was he frustrated by his disciples’ obtuseness? Had he become impatient with Jewish rejection and resentful of Roman oppression? Had he decided that his message of gentle caring and merciful forgiveness needed “teeth”? Or, was he simply being frank, honest, and realistic as regards the very serious crisis confronting humankind by virtue of his person and mission?

Crisis, from the Greek, krisis, means judgment or decision; Jesus’ presence on the earth necessarily demanded a definitive decision on the part of his would-be followers. Their yes had to be yes; their no had to be no. Christianity precludes indecision as well as compromise. Surrendering to compromise and infidelity was the error made by Jeremiah’s contemporaries (first reading). When the prophet dared to confront them, they turned on him, denounced him and tried to kill him. Surrendering to lukewarmness in their discipleship was also the mistake made by the church in Laodicea; they had become what G.B. Caird (The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, A. and C. Black New Testament Commentary) had described as “a perfect model of inoffensive Christianity.” Therefore, they were told that God would spew them out as one would spew out bitter, tepid water. Luke did not wish his contemporaries to be similarly lost. Therefore he reminded his readers that Jesus had come into the world to offend its mediocrity, evil and indifference. With no middle path in which to find refuge, each person Jesus encountered had to choose to accept him and suffer the consequences or to reject him and suffer the consequences.

Inextricably bound up with the choice for Jesus were FIRE and DIVISION. Fire was to be an expected aspect of discipleship in the sense that: (1) baptism into Jesus dying and rising necessarily included a process of purification by his word and the Holy Spirit; (2) those who align themselves with him who is both LIGHT and TRUTH will inevitably know the heat of persecution; (3) the service of the good news will require a zeal so contagious that it will set fire in the hearts of others. Similarly, those who decide for Christ will also bear the burden caused by division. In the words of E.E. Ellis (The Gospel of Luke), “the call for decision is a call for division.” Faithful union with Christ forged a union that superseded all other relationships and at times even necessitated the dissolution of any relationship that would contradict or endanger Christian commitment.

Since fire and division were the harsh realities with which Jesus confronted his contemporaries, it devolves upon the church to examine the level of comfort or challenge with which it bears witness to the world. If no one is ever offended by the quality of our commitment Christ, how authentically Christian is that commitment? If our individual and communal living of the good news casts no fire and causes no division, then perhaps we have become “perfect models of inoffensive Christianity.” Today’s liturgy, with its challenging message, offers an opportunity for breaking that mold and for rekindling the fire with which Jesus wished to ignite the earth.

JEREMIAH 38:4-6, 8-10

Irish wit, poet and dramatist, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) once wrote, “Clergymen and people who use phrases without wisdom sometimes talk of suffering as a mystery. It is really a revelation. One discerns things one never discerned before.” So it was in the life of the prophet J­­eremiah. Commissioned by God to speak an unpopular message to an often hostile and unreceptive people, he came to know a lion’s share of fire and division. Nevertheless, in his suffering, Jeremiah, like the legendary Job, also came to know God in such an intimate way that he could speak about God with unparalleled frankness and familiarity. Jeremiah described his vocation to bear God’s word to the people as a seduction (20:7). In a moment of deep anguish, he dared to call God “a treacherous brook.” whose waters dry up when they are needed most (15:18). Nevertheless, Jeremiah never doubted the love of God for him and never stinted in trying to share that revelation with his contemporaries. Profoundly convinced of God’s person, plan and purpose, Jeremiah was willing to face whatever conflict and suffering came his way as a result of his convictions.

As is reflected in today’s first reading, the instigators of Jeremiah’s sufferings were often the leaders of the people. In this particular instance, the princes or nobles of Jerusalem had approached Zedekiah, seeking the prophet’s demise. Their desire for revenge was prompted by the prophet’s unwillingness to support a plot to rebel against Babylon. Assyria had already been conquered and Zedekiah, the last of Judah’s kings, functioned as a vassal ruler subject to Babylon. Rather than rebellion, Jeremiah recommended prayer and penance; when the rebels ignored his advise and were conquered, he advised them to humbly surrender and accept defeat as divine punishment, justly deserved.

Infuriated by what they considered treason, the nobles accused Jeremiah of demoralizing, i.e. “weakening the hands” of the soldiers. A weak and inconsistent king, Zedekiah bowed to pressure and Jeremiah was lowered into a cistern. Underground chambers for storing the runoff of rain water, cisterns were usually bottle-shaped; therefore, an un-aided escape would have been virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the word of God, which was Jeremiah’s mission to speak, was not to be silenced. The word which he described as “like fire” and “like a hammer shattering rocks” (23:29) would continue to be heard because rescue came to Jeremiah in the person of Ebed-Melech. An Ethiopian (Cushite) and a Jerusalem palace official, Ebed-Melech, whose name meant “servant of the king”, interceded with Zedekiah and negotiated the prophet’s release.

Notice that the king was at the Gate of Benjamin at the time; the city gates functioned as the “courtroom” of the people. Elders gathered there to hear cases and render judgments. Perhaps Jeremiah wished his readers to infer that he had been judged innocent of the charges against him, not necessarily by Zedekiah but by God.

Ebed-Melech’s action on behalf of Jeremiah may also have referenced the similar rescue of the patriarch Joseph (Genesis 37:20-28). After his brothers threw him into a cistern and left him for dead, a caravan of Midianites drew him out to safety. Through the experiences of Joseph, Jeremiah and their foreign rescuers, the scriptural message seems to affirm that although there will be fire and division, the scope of God’s plan is universal (people of any nation are called to participate) and God’s purpose is impervious to every human obstacle.

HEBREWS 12:1-4

In his commentary of this text from Hebrews, Thomas G. Long (Hebrews, John Knox Press, Louisville: 1997) prefaced his remarks with the following anecdote. On the wall of a city telephone booth, someone had plastered a sticker that read, “If you are tired of sin, read John 3:16.” Below this was scribbled a handwritten note: “If you are not tired of sin, call 555-1176.” Long suggests that because of the suffering (fire and division) they were experiencing for the sake of their commitment to Christ, the recipients of Hebrews were somewhere in between being tired of sin and not tired of it. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that these Christians had grown tired of the struggle between the two; the constant conflict which fidelity entails was weakening their resolve.

In an effort to renew their strength, the Hebrews author had paraded a cavalcade of witnesses before them (chapter 11). Through the example set by Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the judges and the prophets, he wished to teach his readers both the lesson of and the reward for endurance. Each of these ancestors had, as it were, run their leg of the great relay race of faith to the best of their ability. Now it had become the responsibility of their spiritual descendants to do likewise; in that way, the fire of the faith would be passed undimmed from generation to generation.

To encourage his readers to embrace their leg of the race with fervor, the ancient writer held out the unsurpassed example of Jesus whose race of faith had led him to the cross; after he endured its shame, he entered into glory at God’s right hand. He also encouraged those who were tiring of their own share of the cross to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus so as to avoid every encumbrance of sin. Just as excess weight and unnecessary baggage hinder athletes from performing at the height of their potential, so also do sin and the lure of evil cause believers to lag.

Perhaps the Hebrews author wasn’t so much afraid that his correspondents would allow their weariness to lead them to a life of sin as he was that they would take the even lesser path of indifference and compromise. To avert such an impasse, he also called his readers to be ever mindful of the presence of Jesus, who, as William Barclay (“The Letter to the Hebrews”, The Daily Study Bible, The Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh: 1976) has affirmed, is at once the goal of our race and our companion (teammate?) on the way, the one whom we go to meet and the one with whom we travel. Fired and fortified by Jesus’ presence, as well as that of the great cloud of witnesses who have already crossed the finish line, twentieth century believers are called to do their best until their great run for the faith is crowned with victory.

LUKE 12:49-53

Given the confrontational and adversarial tone of today’s gospel, Jesus’ words were probably well received by those of his followers who were straining at the political bit of imperial Roman oppression as well as the cultural and philosophical bit of Hellenism. Unlike the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Herodians et al., who practiced a policy of tolerant, passive resistance, the Zealots advocated armed rebellion against Rome and all forces foreign to Judaism. For these guerrilla warriors, Jesus’ proclamation of fire and division must have sounded like a call to arms. No doubt, their hopes that they had a leader in Jesus were dashed when they realized that he was calling, not for military conflict but for that spiritual conflict which is integral to discipleship.

By announcing his purpose on earth in terms of fire, baptism and division, Jesus made it clear that those who would follow him would, by their own decision, become vulnerable to the same suffering that he would bear for the salvation of sinners. Baptism, in this particular context, did not refer to the sacrament through which believers would be initiated into dying and rising of Jesus. Rather, baptism (from the Greek baptizein and from the Hebrew tabal) meant to be immersed or plunged and refers, in this gospel, to the suffering which Jesus would endure for the salvation of sinners. A comparable text in Mark’s gospel (10:38) also references Jesus’ suffering and death as a baptism and includes the challenge that any would-be disciple should expect to experience a similar baptism. Present in the world as the emissary of God’s truth and justice, Jesus would inevitably provoke a firestorm of rejection, discord and division. Those who accepted his challenge to conversion and were purified by his baptism, would stand with him (v.50); those who rejected the searing fire of his truth would, by their own choice, perish.

Readers of Luke should not be surprised by today’s gospel, nor should it seem that Jesus was changing course in midstream. From the outset and through his infancy narratives, Luke had presented Jesus and his mission in such terms. Recall the prophecy of Simeon: “Behold this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (2:34-35). In other words, through Jesus, and hinging on their acceptance and/or rejection of him, humankind will become divided into believers who will share in his life and disbelievers who have chosen death. Moreover, an individual’s acceptance of Jesus’ words and works will set him/her at odds with those who reject him; even familial bonds are less binding than those formed by faith.

Until Jesus comes again to definitively and universally establish the reign of God, the twin specters of fire and division will confront his followers. Faced with this abiding challenge, it devolves upon the church to struggle with the paradox that those who truly work for peace will, despite every sincere effort, also be the occasion of conflict. The more authentic and faithful the disciple, the more he/she will find himself/herself at odds with, and even in conflict with, the world. As it was with Jesus, so it was with the early church; so it shall be for the church which calls itself Christian until the end of the ages.

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