Tenth Sunday after Pentecost: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
There are weeks when I read the lessons for Sunday and would like to wish them away. The lectionary doesn’t allow us to do that. We begin with Isaiah’s account of how the house of Israel will be destroyed because it has not been faithful to the Lord; we end with Jesus’ promise of division: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” No sweet kumbaya resolution here.
What is this division, though? Why? Jesus is not promising division for its own sake, but because of choices that people have made. If we choose to follow Jesus, we will go against the world in some things. Jesus brings division because he asks for choices. He asks us to be ready, to act as if life could end at any minute. And most of us don’t, most of the time.
This lesson appears as part of a long series of teachings. Many of the stories Jesus tells are about being ready to answer for your behavior. Jesus has ended his previous story focusing on the responsibility of his followers: if you know what is needed, then you are more at fault for what you do not do. “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48)
I suspect I am not alone in being uncomfortable with such apocalytic language. But as is so often the case in the Bible, these descriptions of conflict and punishment reflect not what Jesus wants, but what happens. If we follow Jesus, we will be divided from some of those around us.
The gospel reading ends with Jesus asking us to pay attention to the signs, and be ready to respond. What signs do we see that ask for a response? An obvious one is climate. Here in Merced, we know about drought and global warming. If we see these signs of potential climate catastrophe, what does it mean to respond as followers of Jesus? We think about those most vulnerable: that’s what it means to love our neighbors. So we use less water and drive more efficient cars; we might put solar panels on our houses to save electricity costs. But such care for creation is controversial: there are still those who do not think we need to act to slow the warming of the planet. Loving all our neighbors may divide us from others.
In her hymn celebrating the impending birth of Jesus, Mary sings of God’s work: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”
We live, as did Jesus, in a society where power has accumulated in the hands of the wealthy. Jesus called his followers not to follow the hierarchies of the world, but to love everyone. We are called to do the same. When we see signs, we need to pay attention. And we need to respond in ways that reflect the love of Jesus.