A Sermon for Sunday

Luke 12:49-56

49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." 54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, "It is going to rain'; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, "There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

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When I read this passage at first I thought to myself, “Oh no!”

This text is one that is not easily preached on because Jesus is super dramatic and angsty. At first I thought... This does not even seem like the Jesus I know. Jesus is here talking about division and breaking apart families. I mean, I don’t know about all of you... but this just isn’t the Jesus I’m use to seeing.. and if Jesus always acted like this I probably wouldn’t be a Christian. 

If someone asked me to tell them a story about Jesus, surely I wouldn't pick this one! I'd tell them a story about Jesus healing or welcoming the outcast or kissing the leper.

I attempted to figure out why Jesus was acting like this. I think that Jesus was a little nervous about the impending doom of his death. I looked further in Luke and right after this text Jesus is talking about the stress that he is feeling concerning his mission and ultimate death.

This led me to really consider what stress does to humans. Jesus is God, yes, but Jesus is also fully human. God becomes a human to live among the people and ultimately save the people. We live in a world filled with stress!! So, What is stress doing to all of us?

During my time as a chaplain I met an individual whose mother just died. Whenever I would enter the room of someone who just died and their family was there I could instantly feel the stress. The woman who had died was on hospice and dying for about two weeks. Her daughter would visit her regularly and I considered her a faithful daughter. When I arrive, about ten minutes after her death, her daughter had just arrived. When she realized that her mother had died she began to cry, really cry. I was surprised by this reaction because in previous encounters she told me that she was at peace and wanted to see her go because she was suffering. I asked her how she was feeling, and she broke down even more and told me if she hadn’t done her hair this morning she would have been there for her mother’s death. WOW... What can I even say to that. I said all I knew to say... “You couldn’t have possibly known.” But the stress still ran high in the room and I could tell that she would carry this with her as she left the room that day. 

This is but one example of the stresses of life. We see stress in so many aspects of life. Kids feel stress, adults feel stress, the elderly experience stress. It's everywhere and it's doing a number to our bodies. 

Stress can make it difficult for us to get up in the morning, to continue throughout the day, to go to bed at night. Stress makes us eat, stress makes us starve, stress makes us cry, stress makes us cold, stress makes us sick, it makes us distant, it causes us to fight with people we care about most... It’s not good for us. And it was not good for Jesus either. This section of Scripture presents us with a Jesus who is struggling with his mission. Jesus expects the disciples to at least understand the “season” that they’re in... but they don’t get it. 

I don't think we get it either. We are distracted by issues in our communities. We see young children dying on our streets, we see single mothers and fathers struggling to provide for their children, we see people who don't have homes, who suffer from addiction, there's so much pain in our city and even within the walls of this church. Don't get me wrong, we should be concerned about these issues, but how do we continue to see the risen Christ through that pain?

I was feeling a little cynical this week as I thought about this text. I started to feel a little like Jesus. A little stressed... A little worried about how God is working among us. I felt a very real sense of division.

The division that this text speaks of is just the division that Christ tears down with the cross! Christ is tearing down our walls to bring forth the kingdom of God. Christ will work through our issues, our inability, and Christ will make all things new. It thanks this division for us to really see the goodness and newness in life.

I was at the ELCA’s churchwide assembly this past week where we elected a new presiding bishop and secretary, adopted a social statement, and approved various memorials. This work was exhausting but totally rewarding. Through this assembly, being among so many people that truly believe that God is real.... was incredible! It reassured me that God is still working and, to steal a phrase from the Ucc church, God is still speaking!! The Spirit moved through the conference center in Pittsburg and raised up leaders to embark on a new and exciting future.

Look what God is doing here! In this place!! Despite the issues we face...God is finding ways to make things new! 

Kelsi is about to embark on a year long trip around the United States bringing God's word to people through music.

Hannah is traveling to South Africa to accompany the people in her assigned village.. To be part of their community. To accompany people in their pain and joy.

God is using Kelsi and Hannah, but God is also using all of you, even if its on a small scale and in ways you may not know. Even when you don't think God is working through you, God is! God gives all of us to one another in love and service. Christ died so we could live. We don't serve our neighbors because we want God to reward us. We serve one another because we can't help it! The need flows out of us!

Over this past year I saw amazing things happening within this congregation! The young adults now gather to share fellowship which turned into an incredible community of faith. The new pantry church ministry on Tuesday evenings is feeding the bodies and the souls of individuals! The bible school that happened a few weeks ago lit kids on fire and helped them to see how God loves and protects them! So many things are happening here!!

We have a living, daring, confidence in God’s grace! God is moving and working within these walls and outside. God is making all things new in our lives because the God we serve is a God of resurrection! We aren't tied to sin, we can work through sin, and God can work through our brokenness because God is bigger than our wildest imagination!

This congregation has a missional heart. It sustains the community within and outside. The love of this community pours out of the doors of this church. Love is not for the faint of heart because loves asks us to sacrifice a lot, but the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to love and to be loved, to serve and to be served...

Amen!