20 January 2016 - fire on the earth

[ Today's Readings ]

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.

We know that Jesus values unity. He intends the good news for both Jew and gentile, slave and free, rich and poor. He wants to bring us all together in his Church, the new Israel of God.

From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father

We know that Jesus values family. After all, he calls God his Father. His Father is the one "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named". He himself is born into a human family with Mary his mother and Joseph his foster father. Yet he is willing to see division where there must be division. He tells us that we must love him even more than our families. 

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (see Matthew 10:37).

The invitation of Jesus has to us does not allow much gray area. We choose to except him as LORD or to reject him as a liar or a lunatic. He is such an intensely polarizing figure that there is no way to come down in the middle. But it is precisely in this that his message has the power to change the world.

I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!

Yes the message divides people. People don't always accept his invitation. Jesus allows this. But he would prefer that all people come to him to be saved. He would prefer that the fire of the Holy Spirit spread to all people and not just some. But the fire is obviously dangerous. The risk of being transformed can't be ignored.

that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;

This transformation can be fearful but it need not be. It is based on "the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge". It turns out to be "more than all we ask or imagine". Let us welcome the fire of the Spirit and invite others to do so. May God use us to spread his fire and help us not to add extra causes of division to a message which can be difficult even in its pure form.

But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.