Fire

Luke 12:49-59 (The Message)

I've come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now!

I've come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished!

Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice?

Not so.

I've come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be—

Three against two,
and two against three;
Father against son,
and son against father;
Mother against daughter,
and daughter against mother;
Mother-in-law against bride,
and bride against mother-in-law."

Then he turned to the crowd: "When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, 'Storm's coming'—and you're right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, 'This'll be a hot one'—and you're right.

Frauds!

You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don't tell me you can't tell a change in the season, the God-season we're in right now.

"You don't have to be a genius to understand these things.

Just use your common sense, the kind you'd use if, while being taken to court, you decided to settle up with your accuser on the way, knowing that if the case went to the judge you'd probably go to jail and pay every last penny of the fine.

That's the kind of decision I'm asking you to make."

This is not an image of Jesus that we get too often, or that we're terribly comfortable with.

This is the Jesus of division, and decision.

This is not, "think about it." This is, "act on it."

It's hard for us to understand Jesus' seeming lack of patience on this passage, and hard for us to get a grip on his frustration.

But have you ever tried to start a fire? I mean, a real fire. A campfire, without matches or a flint?

Have you ever tried to start a good old fashioned boy scout kind of fire? I'm talking bow-and-spindle, friction-based kind of fire?

It's an incredible amount of work.

You have to have good tinder. You'll need the right kindling. You're going to get blisters.

The wind has to be right, and it takes incredible determination.

Now imagine that someone in your camping party had a high-powered butane lighter the whole time.

Imagine that they produced that lighter, and then sat by your side as you worked away...but wouldn't pull the trigger to start the fire.

They just let you work, and work, and work. How would that make you feel?

Jesus had been preaching and proclaiming and healing. And now, at the conclusion of Luke 12, he's bringing all of his hard work to a clear point.

Decide.

And yes, your decision may make you stand apart...or alone...at times.

But it's really common sense.

If you have a lighter, now is the time to strike it.

Perhaps it's that time in our lives as well. All in. The fire is prepared. He hands us the matches of decision. Let's go in His grace.

Prayer: Teach us the lessons of Luke 12, and invite us for another day into the fire of your kingdom.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.