Fire and Division

This week Jesus tells us “I have come to bring fire on the earth,…..Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” Luke 12: 49-53

We have always thought of Jesus as the Prince of Peace- Jesus the healer, the saviour but now we hear him say that he has come to bring fire and division.

What did Jesus mean when he said those words?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church 696 explains that fire represents the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit’s actions. John the Baptist in Luke 3: 16 tells the people that Jesus “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” In Acts 2: 3-4 we are told that “They saw togues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest o each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Yes! Jesus brings fire on earth to set us ablaze with His transforming power of love-the Holy Spirit so that we can be witnesses and disciples of Christ. Being a disciple of Christ may not always win us friends. If we are His disciples, our model is Jesus and we imitate him. Discipleship means living the way of the cross.

The story of St. Francis of Assisi is one story where following Christ brings division to a home. Although having been born to a wealthy Catholic family, there was not much Christian witnessing besides Sunday masses. After his imprisonment during his expedition, Francis begins to realise the futility of material wealth. He goes through a conversion and starts giving away his riches. His father demanded that he returned all the family’s possessions.  Francis renounced is family and patrimony. He even gave back the clothes he was wearing.

The story of St. Thomas Aquinas also portrays division within a family when he chose to follow Christ.  Thomas, from a noble family, wanted to join the Dominican order. He was kidnapped and locked in a fortress for 2 years by his brothers. They even sent him a prostitute to be tempted. His mother finally arranged his escape to the Dominicans.

How about in your life? Did you see any divisions when you chose Christ above all else?

C.S. Lewis explains in Mere Christianity that we may not always understand God’s work in us. He explains using the image of God rebuilding our house. He says imagine living in a house where God comes to do some repairs- setting the drains right, stopping the leaks but suddenly he starts knocking the house down and it hurts and makes no sense to you. Well, He is building a completely new house nothing as you thought. “You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “Issaiah 55:8-9