"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." - Luke 12:49-51
We think of Jesus Christ as a man who came to Earth to bring peace. He doesn't mean that his objective is division, but the effect of his salvation in dying on the cross is because of division. Alistair Begg does a great sermon on the question which the question is a means of purifying and using division to bring peace to the world. Jesus came into the world to shake up the status quo and comfort the afflicted and love sinners. By no means did he intend to reinforce that status quo.
And when we start our paths of finding Jesus, it is inevitable that our born-again and newfound faiths bring division among people who strongly disagree with our callings. To be a Christian is to be divisive, to give up everything that you carried before and repudiate large portions of the world. John 15:18-21 shows that the world hated Jesus before he ever hated us, and "if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also," and that the world will hate us as disciples of Christ because the world hated Jesus first.
Begg uses the example of a born-again Christian first sharing their faith and sharing it somewhat zealously to their close friends and family. "Shut up about Jesus," tells an annoyed family member to his/her newfound faith. Anyone who follows Jesus is likely to become a newfound enemy to their families to some degree. Christians have to face this annoyance all the time, but it is a fact that in many parts of the world, Christians are persecuted, too.
I used to think that avoiding conflict was always the best thing, but now, I can't say that I'm so sure, honestly. Sometimes, avoiding conflict in the face of the inevitable is counterproductive and delays a resolution to a problem rather than addressing the problem in itself. 99 times out of 100, I'll avoid an argument with a friend rather than having it when tensions are boiling. It's just in my nature and how I've reacted to my upbringing. But the post-conflict resolution is the norm in non-primates, according to prestigious primatologist, Frans de Waal, in which conflict is deemed prosocial because it leads to a form of reconciliation and resolution needed to maintain beneficial relationships. If the same were to apply to humans, couples would have stronger relationships after fights, and I know there are relationships that do.
Sometimes, love, peace, and harmony require conflict. Through conflict, we can acquire peace and a greater peace than we've ever seen before.
And that should re-shape the way we think about our faith and our relationships with Christ, that we should see any conflict and division we face in our lives and worlds as a way to grow closer to Christ and our relationships with him rather than pitting ourselves against Christ.
In particular, in Luke 12, Jesus talks about division within a family that comes as a result of his coming. In the wider context of the Bible, Jesus preached directly to his disciples. His message here, however, seems to run counter to how so many of us interpret the works and words of Jesus. Paul, when he wrote his epistles, often describes what Jesus did in terms of peace. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, Paul tells us that the outcome of Jesus Christ's mission was "reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting us to the message of reconciliation." Colossians 1:20 tells us that God came "to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."
These words help us to understand what Jesus said just before his question "do you think I came to bring peace to the Earth?" Just before, he notes two other key phrases: casting "fire on the earth" and having "a baptism to be baptized with." Jesus wishes that this fire was already kindled, a reference to the utility to fire: it burns what is combustible, and it purifies what is non-combustible. In chemistry, precious metals like diamonds are purified, whereas many other things, like paper, are not. This fire, through God's holiness, not only destroys but purifies what is valuable and holy to God.
Jesus is looking forward to this because he looks forward to a day when there is no other evil when evil is gone from the world. Don't we commit our lives to ameliorate evil from our worlds? We say to ourselves, according to Begg, "I wish it were possible for all this to be dealt away with."
The baptism is one we always need to undergo, despite the outward baptism we've gone through. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, and John the Baptist is confused, in Matthew 3, knowing Jesus is the son of God. "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" John the Baptist asks Jesus. But Jesus responds in grace, telling him "let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus wants them to go through with the baptism so he could do the will of his Father.
In this, he refers to the crucifixion of his death on the cross, the ultimate testament to his death on his cross.
What greater peace came than the resurrection of God's son? What greater peace came than God forsaking his own sons to forgive us to our sons? No, Jesus may not have come to the Earth to bring peace. He may have come to purify and rid the world of evil, but through the crucifixion and resurrection, the biggest miracle of the Bible, Jesus eventually came to bring peace through the initial conflict of his life on Earth.
Jesus came and his presence inevitably brought division, but through the resurrection, he eventually brought peace. It takes a while, but we eventually get the fact that Jesus lived his life under the shadow and valley of his looming death. Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives, right before his death, for "not my will, but yours be done." No one wants to die as Jesus did, and he acknowledged that honesty, but Jesus accepted his fate at the hands of God gracefully to bring peace to the world.
Jesus died to bring reconciliation.
He took the place of us sinners, to take up the place of our sorrows, but allowed himself to be pierced and killed for our transgressions.
By those wounds, we are healed.
We are reconciled with God. We are forgiven by God, even though we, and especially I, can be terrible sinners, and be brought into his kingdom? Hell is a separation from God, not a closeness with God. God reached out to us and made sure we were brought in, even when we didn't deserve it, through forsaking and sacrificing Jesus.
In Christianity, a physician heals by not curing but taking on a patient's disease. In Christianity, a person puts his life on the line to effect a reconciliation. Our personal reconciliation and trust in Jesus are known on two levels: intellectual knowledge but also an emotional acceptance. In personal terms, we find an emotional acceptance that we didn't know before, and as such, we must define our walks and journeys with God in the language and words of our personal journeys.
I know that my journey was one of shame, suffering, and tremendous isolation. I will be honest that I came to God, at times, because it just seemed like I had no other choice because people with the ministry showed me what it truly meant to be non-judgmental and love. Our journeys in faith, whether we turn away or turn towards, is something we must do for ourselves, not for someone else to preach for us.
What Jesus meant when he talked about division is tied to the work he did in effecting a reconciliation. We came to the faith not so we could be brought good will and blessings. Life is not a fool's paradise, a place where everything can go according to our dreams. The effect of our lives being changed is salvation is not peace, but division. Our interpersonal relationships become changed, and I know there are people who thought I became a bit of a Bible freak when I came to the faith. Faith requires a loyalty that is costly, that causes division. But that division and conflict lead us to reconciliation.
Jesus died on the cross to reconcile someone like me, someone who has made a whole lot of mistakes, someone who doesn't deserve to be forgiven for those mistakes. And although that hasn't brought everyone peace, that has brought me peace through conflict and subsequent reconciliation.
