Luke 12:49-56; Division in the House II

The "division" of vv. 51-53 has to be read in the context of the fire of v. 49 and the baptism of v. 50. Jesus is speaking in these passages of the extreme pressure which results from his coming and the urgency of his mission. Those who "sign on" to his mission must realize that it is one of fire. Fire is an image used by Luke beginning with the baptism of John to describe divine judgment (3:17). It is also one of baptism, not simply the descending into the waters of the Jordan at the hands of John but of the "baptism" on the cross.

When we see the extreme nature of the demands of discipleship, we are ready to understand the "division" that it creates in vv. 51-53. I think we read the passage faithfully if we realize that the divisions in view are not something chosen by the families but are imposed on them. The active voice of the verb isn't used; it simply says that they will be divided. Jesus' presence and proclamation simply brings division. His is a "wedge" message, a message that divides people. Why would Jesus say this? Because by this time in his ministry he realizes that this is precisely the reaction that his message is bringing. Someone may be healed by his touch or his words, and the person is sent on his/her way rejoicing, but while the person is rejoicing another group will be muttering to itself, deciding how best to get rid of Jesus. Jesus has seen the divisive nature of his word at work already in the world. This passage just tells us what we already know to be true---faithful response to Jesus' message divides us from people, even people that may be very close to us.

The positive way of saying the same thing is that response to Jesus' message creates a new community, a community not based on physical or genetic relationships but on spiritual ties of kinship. Jesus knew that his true mother and brother and sisters were those who heard the word of God and did it. Our passage emphasizes the same reality.

Thus, the passage speaks neither about the inevitability of division in families nor the selected or chosen nature of this division. It is, according to my reading, imposed as something that flows naturally from the new commitment. Nor does it say that every family is so divided. Like the poor whom we will always have us (another one of Jesus' statements--John 12), so we learn from this passage that Jesus' message causes division, even to the very relationships that may have nurtured us in our youth. But, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews goes even further. He speaks about the living and active word of God as so sharp that it splits even bone from marrow (4:12). We miss the Gospel if we think it is just one pluralistic and inclusive love feast for all the people of the world.

Reading the Signs of the Times (vv. 54-56)

The second half of the passage is linked to the first, as I said above, by appearance of words/thoughts that evoke water and fire. But the point is different from that in vv. 49-53. Here Jesus chides his hearers for their spiritual shallowness, even as they have meterological awareness. We simply live "in the dark" as it relates to interpreting the world spiritually.

Let me give you an example about how I felt I have "lived in the dark" regarding an aspect of life for most of my days--an illustration of how we can, as Jesus said, read the external signs of life but be oblivious to other meanings all around us. I am 55 years old, and just last month for the first time I decided I would begin to study in earnest the natural world--the world around me. I found myself almost totally ignorant about types of trees and plants, flowers, shrubs, grasses, mosses, lichens, etc. around me. I wanted, once and for all, to remove the ignorance in which I have spent my life. Why? Well, I think there were a number of impulses for this, one of which was to try to understand the reasons for the Latin names which every living species has. So, I have begun to learn, and I am making long lists of tree species and plants and flowers. I find myself hanging out at nursuries, taking tours through arboretums, asking middle-aged women to tell me about their flower gardens, etc.

The more I pour into trying to understand these worlds, the more I feel I am being rewarded by them. The trees are, as it were, becoming my teachers. They not only spread their canopies far above our heads, but they teach us to look closely at life because they are both similar to and different from others of the same genus. The flowers teach us to look closely at things, too, because they are made up not only of arresting colors or odors, but of the finest and softest materials on the planet.

Why did I wait so long to discover the natural world? Probably because I was so excited with the "intellectual pursuits" of history, law and theology that I didn't really have time to notice things right before my eyes. If you had asked me a few months ago whether I thought I was a knowledgeable individual, I would have thought I was. But now, I realize that I am just starting out. I am a learner in preschool as it comes to identifying and knowing the natural beauty around us. For every hour I spend on the natural world, however, I am rewarded with insights, beauty and lessons that I simply couldn't have gotten any other way. I see people in various kinds of trees or flowers; I see life's lessons and shapes in the shape of a bush or flower.

Thus, I understand instinctively Jesus' words in this section--that one might have all the "meterological" knowledge in the world but still be quite ignorant about the most important things in life. I, too, am discovering a world that I vaguely knew existed and now is opening to me each day.

What worlds are you ignorant of? Which do you want to open? Jesus excoriated his hearers about their lack of ability to perceive spiritual realities around them. Maybe we can, in the earlier words of Luke, learn to become "rich toward God" and thus perceive the underlying spiritual roots of all of reality.

Conclusion

Jesus is seemingly perturbed in this passage because people just don't "get" what he is about. There is a divisive character to the message of peace; there is a spiritual understanding that is different from interpreting signs in the skies or on earth. Are we able to receive either? To do so is to signal our distance from the easy progressive Gospel of those who just want to march in peace demonstrations or think that Jesus just affirms everyone he meets. Following Jesus is a bit more complex than that.

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