⁴⁹‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! ⁵¹Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! ⁵²From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³they will be divided:
father against son
   and son against father,
mother against daughter
   and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

⁵⁰Interpreting the Time

He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. ⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

It would seem to us that the last word we need at this time is a word about division.  Hasn’t there been enough division?  Can’t we just move on from the pain of our past and embrace some better, more peaceful future?

As a Cubs fan, it has always been a dangerous road to preach and teach in Cardinal Nation.  Yet I found helpful a recent comment by Lou Pinella in his lifelong friendship with Tony LaRussa:  “I like beating him, and he likes beating me….  Yet at the end of the day, we have dinner together and enjoy.” (paraphrased)

Would that rivals or even enemies could get to that point.  We, for our part though, tend to downplay the reality of conflict.  Kelly Fryer, a teacher, during her presentation at the Synod Assembly this year showed a clip of the movie Talladega Nights when Ricky Bobby offered his memorable table prayer:  “Dear 8 pounds 6 ounces baby Jesus, new born, not even spoken a word yet….  Dear Lord Baby Jesus, I want to thank you for this wonderful meal, my two beautiful sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, and my Red-Hot Smokin’ Wife, Carley.”  Yet as Fryer pointed out, the satire is based on a perception of our culture that what we have done is put Jesus in a box and present him the way we want Jesus to be, rather than embracing the Jesus as the kind of person he really is. 

In other words, isn’t the problem with us?  Isn’t is that we don’t really convert to the Jesus of the gospels, but get the Jesus of the gospels to conform and even baptize our way of life?

What we get in the gospel for today is a Jesus who speaks, and speaks openly, about himself as coming “not to bring peace, but division.”  The division he is about is the division of the gospel.  Are you for it, or again’ it?

I have sitting on my desk the galley proofs of Bob Bertram’s book, A Time for Confessing.  The book speaks about those rare times when Christians, for the sake of the gospel, have had to stand up and proclaim the gospel’s message over all alien gospels, including the alien gospels of power, wealth and prestige.  Luther figures prominently in it.  Martin Luther King figures prominently in it.  Bonhoeffer figures prominently in it. Yet all were conceived as being divisive persons.  Were they?  Were they really?

What they upheld was the gospel in the midst of oppression.  And that is what Jesus is doing as he speaks these words to us today.  And now his face is set to go to Jerusalem where he will face his final time of trial and oppression at the hands of those who would hate his Word.

The context of this gospel for today follows on the heels of the parable of Jesus about a slave who took advantages of times while his Master was delayed.  He beat the other slaves, grasped power and used it against others.

Jesus speaks of the signs of the present time.  The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches, and the Lutheran World Federation have recently released reports on their understanding of the signs of the times.  What is being depicted is a time when people are being systematically victimized and oppressed by a powerful regime in our own market-driven empire.  We are the ones who are beating up on the slaves.  And when the Master returns, Jesus says, what do you think the beating slave deserve? 

There are casualties in our world; many casualties.  And yet in the midst of this of this world that treats by beating, our Lord is one who subjects himself to beating.  Jesus speaks these words—these hard, harsh words of division—precisely when he is to complete his own baptism into death.  “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!”  He would enter into that Day of Judgment on our behalf.  He would place himself in the breach of the cross. And it is only through that cross that any of us can find the power to withstand the day of final reconciliation.

He is whipped and stripped and placed up on a cross.  But from there he breaks down the dividing wall between us and God, and between us and one another. Here is the Light that shines in the midst of a casualty-laden world! Here is the Hope for a brighter and more promising future!

In an age that sometimes wants to insist on power-grabbing, we have forgotten where the real power is.  Paul pointed to it:  “Christ crucified, the wisdom of God and the power of God.”  You may recall that Paul was used to another kind of power in life.  He persecuted Christians.  He tortured and killed them, and took zeal in his task.  Yet God did not give up on Paul, but welcomed even him home.  And Paul, who once persecuted the faithful, now became one of the church’s best witnesses.

It’s not about grabbing power in this world. It is about grabbing the power of the cross, to bring the gospel to bear on the lives of others.

I began this sermon with a reference to the mild animosity of Cubs and Cardinals.  There is another parable, closer to home, of my two cats.  For months now, Sarah, a.k.a. Fat Cat, has been a loner and liking it.  Our previous male cat had died, and Sarah was alone able to go to her food dish and sleep on the couch as she customarily did.  But recently, she was introduced to Karen’s cat, Jack.  Jack came in a cage, and the cage was temporarily left unopened until Sarah could get used to the idea that there was a new guest here.  Sarah’s eyes widened.  As the cage door was opened and Jack began to emerge out slowly, Sarah’s eyes widened more. There was a moan and a hiss.  And for a few days, these two cats were not friends.  They would hide from each other, stay in other rooms.  After a while, they would get to the point where they could be in the same room, but paw at each other, I think in part playfully, but also with some degree of competitiveness.  Yet they were both loved by me and all in the house, and all fed and cared for each day. And during one feeding this week, for the first time, I actually saw them eating out of the same trough of food.

Isn’t it the way for us, dear brothers and sisters, that in time what we come to see really matters is how we gather around Christ’s gospel, and gather at Christ’s trough of the holy communion, and there find all our divisions finally have their rest.

And that Gospel is the Last Word!