Sunday of Week 20 of Ordinary Time (Year C)

Commentary on Jeremiah 38:4-6,8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53

Three Statements
Jesus makes three important statements in today’s Gospel. The first is:

I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze!

This is not the fire of destruction or the fire that ravages forests every year:

• It is the fire of heat and light.
• It is the fire that cleanses and purifies.
• It is the fire of God’s presence:

-as in the burning bush that Moses saw,

-as in the pillar of fire that accompanied the Israelites in the desert,

-as in the tongues of fire at Pentecost where the bringing of fire was mandated to the disciples, to the Church, to all of us.

As a purifying fire, it can also bring pain and purification, but it ultimately leads to conversion and liberation.

His second statement:

I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!

This does not mean that Jesus is to be re-baptised in the Jordan. The word ‘baptism’ implies total immersion (the way sacramental baptism was carried out in the early church and in some churches today). There is a close link between the catechumen being ‘buried’ in water and rising with Christ, and Jesus being ‘baptised’ by being immersed in his suffering and death on the way to resurrection. Jesus does not look forward to his ‘baptism’ for the pain it brings, but for the salutary effects it produces for all of us.

Jesus’ third statement:

Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

This is a statement with which critics of religion would cynically agree. Religion is seen by some as a major source of division, suffering and war in our world.

But to others it is a very puzzling, even alarming, statement. It seems to contradict the whole message of the Gospel. At the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples that he was giving them peace, a peace that the world could not give, a peace that no one could take away from them. We call Jesus the Prince of Peace. In the Beatitudes we read:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matt 5:9)

They especially are the ones who do the work of God—and of Jesus. In the letter to the Ephesians, Jesus is called “our peace”, breaking down the walls that divide peoples. And Jesus tells us:

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

Painful words
It is especially painful to hear the Gospel speak of families being broken up because of Jesus. But this is less a prophecy or an expression of God’s will than a description of the Church’s very real experience from the time the Gospels were being written down to our own day. In many countries, both Christian individuals and Christian communities are seen as a threat to governments, various power groups and other religious groups.

Yet, in the long history of the Church, how many families have suffered because members became Christians? Most of us—especially those who have lived in non-Christian or anti-Christian societies—probably have met someone who was rejected by their family for becoming an active Christian. And, not infrequently, persecution comes even from other Christians, from within the Church itself.

It is significant in the First Reading that Jeremiah is dumped into a cistern, not by outsiders, but by his own people who did not like the message from God that he was bringing. And how many people realise that there have been more martyrs for the faith in our supposedly advanced and civilised ‘modern times’ than in all the preceding centuries of the past!

Non-violence
The Christian message is non-violent. It brings love, compassion, harmony, peace. It brings people together so that there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. But it also, of its nature, challenges injustice, corruption, discrimination, abuse, dishonesty and all attacks on human dignity. The role of the evangeliser is “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”

Vested interests—the rich, the powerful inside and outside the Church—will do anything to keep what they have. When the Church preaches and lives the Gospel, conflict is inevitable—even though in no way wished or intended.

So, in one way, religion should never divide. It is only a false Christianity and religion that deliberately creates division (‘them and us’). It is not Christianity or any other religion as such which has brought so much suffering, but certain people who call themselves ‘Christians’ (or Muslims, Hindus or Jews).

At the same time, true Christianity as lived out in defending truth, justice, human dignity and freedom will inevitably meet opposition and be attacked. The passage which says that the peacemakers are blessed also says that those who are persecuted in the name of the Gospel are equally blessed. Strangely enough, both go together.

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Tuesday of Week 4 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Hebrews 12:1-4

More words of encouragement today for the Hebrew Christians to whom this letter is addressed, urging them to remain faithful to their Christian calling and not to be tempted to fall back to the old ways. First, the author reminds them of “so great a cloud of witnesses” to the faith. He is referring to that impressive list of Old Testament heroes mentioned in the previous chapter, some of whom we saw in the readings of the past two days. The Greek term for “witnesses” (martyres) gives us our English-language word for “martyr”.

The imagery here suggests an athletic contest in a great amphitheatre. But the witnesses in this case are not mere spectators; they are inspiring examples. They bear witness (as martyrs) to the power of faith and God’s faithfulness.

These Hebrews should follow in their footsteps and lay aside every obstacle, especially sin, which can be so difficult to shake off. Instead, let them “run with perseverance the race” that is set before them.

Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians uses a similar image:

Run in such a way that you may win it [i.e. a race]….I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air…
(1 Cor 9:24,26)

Again, to the Philippians, this is precisely what the author is telling his readers to do:

I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. (2 Tim 4:7)

We may say, too, that Christian life is pictured as a long-distance race rather than a short sprint. Some Hebrew Christians were tempted to drop out of the contest because of persecution and obstacles to the practice of their faith. Perhaps they were among those pestered by the ‘Judaisers’ whom Paul speaks about in the Letter to the Galatians (chap 2).

As their model, they are to look to Jesus, the “pioneer and perfecter” of their faith. He both leads the way in showing how to lead a life of faith and, through his death, at the same time gives the strength and grace for them fully to develop their own faith.

Just as a runner concentrates on the finishing line, we should concentrate on Jesus, the goal and objective of our faith (see Phil 3:13-14). Jesus is both the start and the end of the race. He is also the supreme witness who has already run the race and overcome.

Jesus set a marvelous example. In order to reach the unending joy and happiness which was offered to him, he underwent the appalling pain of the cross and the despised terrible shame of such a death, hanging naked in a public place as a criminal. Because of this, he now sits at the right hand of the throne of God. If they (and we) follow in his footsteps, they (and we), too, can be with Jesus sharing the same glory.

And, whenever they are tempted to give up or lose heart, let them remember:

…him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners…

—in other words, from sinners like them and sinners like us.

Finally, he reminds them that, unlike their Master and Lord Jesus and many other martyrs, they have not yet been asked to shed their blood in their living out of the Gospel. They may have been persecuted and even lost their possessions, but they have not had to die for their faith. The whole passage can be applied word for word to our own situation.

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