We call Jesus the Prince of Peace,...
Reflections on the readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 14, 2022): JER 38:4-6,8-10; PS 40:2,3,4,18; HEB 12:1-4; LK 12:49-53
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
but today He says that He is actually bringing disharmony into the world, even within families.
The Gospel reading today tends to make most listeners uncomfortable. Could Jesus really have meant it when He told 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” (Luke 12:49-51)? But, of course, He did mean it. Christ regularly preached about the need for mercy and forgiveness, but He wanted all who walk in His way to understand something more. Not everyone will believe in Him, much less follow Him. They may think the idea of loving God, of putting Him first in our lives is extreme, even ridiculous. Loving all our neighbors as ourselves? Also impossible and pointless. Who could feel warm and fuzzy about people we may dislike or even consider enemies? After all, what would we get out of it?
Nevertheless, our Lord is asking us to trust Him, to love Him, and to love one another as well. Only last Sunday, we heard Jesus say that we should desire our treasure in heaven, not on earth. That’s where our hearts should be. But because Almighty God created us with reason and free will, we get to make choices. The more our choices are closer to the Divine Will, the less other people, those who are satisfied a human, worldly perspective tolerate our beliefs. They certainly will not approve of whatever we say or do that contradicts their attitudes and actions. The God of life and love holds little attraction for those who rather focus on themselves and earthly matters. In writing about Christ and this fire, Pope Benedict XVI has said that “Whoever comes close to Him must be prepared to be burned. This is a fire that makes things bright and pure and free and grand. Being a Christian, then, is daring to entrust oneself to this burning fire. … Truth makes demands and it also burns.” Jesus spoke of the baptism with which I must be baptized. This is the baptism of His own blood that He shed for us. But it remains our personal decision to recognize that He is God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Only in Him can we find truth and salvation. His enduring peace demands that we willingly make tough choices. That first and foremost, we choose Christ.
