I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Jesus longed to enflame the earth with the fire of his Holy Spirit. This Spirit would make it possible for believers to live in victory over sin, motivate them to spread the Gospel no matter the cost, and unite them as one Body in Christ. But there was a step that had to come before the Spirit was given (see John 7:39). This step was not the baptism of John, with which he had already been baptized, although the Spirit did appear on the scene at that time. It was rather the baptism of his death. For the believer, baptism represents the door through which we emerge into the newness of life (see Romans 6:4). But this is the case only because it makes it possible for us to first be united to the death of Jesus, so that we too might share in the glory of his resurrection. It was from his wounded side on the cross that blood and water poured forth in a sign that the Spirit was finally free to flow through the world.
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
Jesus didn't desire the cross as an end in itself, but rather endured it for the sake of the joy set before him (see Hebrews 12:2). So too with the division he would cause between peoples and even within families. He knew it would be necessary for his followers to be willing to choose him above any earthly alternative, and desired to see them express their desire for his lordship over their lives by doing so. But he did not thereby despise those others who did not choose him at once. It might often be the case that the death of these relationships between those who chose for Christ and those who chose against him would one day give way to resurrection to new life. It could, for example, inspire those who saw others prioritize Christ above all else to wonder what was so important about him, what all the fuss was about. Certainly Jesus did not desire anyone to reject him. But he did understand that as a consequence of giving people the ability to make a free choice for or against him that he would be rejected. He did prioritize making the choice available to others above the fact that not all would accept it, and taught his disciples to do the same, when he sent them out with the expectation that they too would encounter rejection (see Matthew 10:14).
Jesus wanted people to be drawn together into a unity that existed at a higher and more spiritual level than that of mere blood relationship. He desired a union that was based on the highest truth and goodness and beauty, rather than on the mere coincidence of circumstance. This might make it sound as though he didn't value earthly family at all. Yet we know that is untrue. He himself chose to be born into a family, and insisted on the sanctity of marriage and the value of children. The fourth commandment, to honor one's parents, was, after all, his idea. It was not that he despised the idea of family. It was rather the case that he wanted to spiritually supercharge marriage and family by giving it higher ground for a more firm foundation. We do see this evidenced in the lives of saints, who, by choosing to love Jesus above all else, were able to love their families better as a result.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We all need to receive the gift of God given through Christ Jesus, the true life without which the life we claim to have is merely an empty shadow. If we insist on so-called life without him we will continue to receive the due payment for the wages of our sin. In such a condition even family fails to rise above the downward gravity of our fallen nature. But once we open ourselves to the Spirit and life that Jesus longs to give us we experience the reality of the fact that he truly does make all things new.
TobyMac - Catchafire (Whoopsi-Daisy)
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