***
Gospel: Luke 12: 49-53
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
This is one of the more difficult Gospel passages because of what Jesus promises: division. And not the kind of division we’d hope for, such as the separation between evildoers and the righteous, but division at home.
In families; in marriages; in the relationships we often value most.
Yet there is nothing we can experience which Jesus has not already felt. Multiple times in the Gospels, we see this tension between his human and divine family unfolding.
***
Consider what happened when Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the Temple after searching frantically for him for three days. An exasperated Mary asked him, “Son, why have you done this to us?”
To which Jesus responded, “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s business?”
Or when he was an adult, and an onlooker notified him that his family was outside waiting to speak with him. He turned and asked them, “Who is my mother? Who are my sisters and brothers? Those who hear the Word of God and observe it.”
***
At every turn, Jesus chose his divine family over his human family – as we are also invited to do. This decision can not only create division, but also fear.
Fear because Christ’s disciples are willing to leave their home – and all dwelling within it – if he calls us.
Fear because his Word runs deeper, and guides our steps more intimately, than even the best family advice.
Fear because there are parts of ourselves that we may share with Him but not with others we love.
Fear because our worldview is not framed by popular opinion, secular culture, or subjectivism, but by unchanging Truth.
Fear because we dedicate our lives to someone whom others, even our own family members, may not believe in or understand.
Fear because the Gospel is not a butter knife but a sword. It can set us free, but it can also divide, “three against two and two against three.” Children against their parents, and spouses against their in-laws.
***
It’s a divisive truth because our human family always comes second to Christ.
***
***
Image credits: (1) Christianity Today (2) X (3) YouTube, Above Inspiration