Discipleship for Peace and Common Good!

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Rom 6:19-23; Lk 12:49-53

In today’s Gospel, Jesus talks about ‘setting the earth on fire’ and causing ‘division’!

How can we understand this apparently scandalous message?

At first, Jesus’ words regarding ‘setting the earth on fire’ signify the impact that he wanted to witness thanks to his groundbreaking message and mission. In that sense, his words refer to the wave of transformation and the winds of change as responses to his ministry. Connected to this, he talks about his passion through the word ‘baptism.’ 

We can understand how Jesus wanted his ‘baptism’ to ignite fire on earth. True to his expectations, the resurrected Christian community set the world on fire with the kind of spiritual and moral revolution it created. 

Indeed, Jesus set the world on fire! We should be ‘engulfed by the purifying flames of the fire’!

Secondly, Jesus comments on the purpose of his coming which is to create division. 

The difference between the ‘object’ and the ‘effect’ of his coming would help us decode the message of Jesus better. 

The object of his coming is peace, but the effect of his presence is war. 

For instance, when Jesus began his public ministry, many ordinary people were drawn to his liberative message, though the Jewish religious authorities resented his radical ways. In Luke 8:3, we find Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household, being the disciple of Jesus. If Herod and his supporters were against Jesus and his message, the wife of one of his trusted employees embraced Jesus’ teachings and followed him. 

The example helps us perceive the ‘divided loyalty’ between Chuza and his wife Joanna on account of Jesus. Such is the division that Jesus’ presence would cause. 

If faith in Jesus leads to a radical ‘break-up’ with our former selves and society and distinguishes itself through a ‘radical difference,’ that is ‘division’ caused by Jesus.  

In fact, Jesus wants more of this ‘division’ coming in his name because such ‘healing on a large scale’ denotes peace and the common good. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar