We are Bound Together as Children of God

This is one of those gospel lessons where a pastor debates skipping the lectionary for a week.

Jesus lighting the earth on fire and pitting family members against one another doesn’t really evoke the Prince of Peace now does it?

But diving into a hard or troublesome text is necessary.

I would argue that the best place to do it is in small group Bible study with open discussion, but this Sunday sermon is the best we can do at the moment.

So, let’s talk about today’s gospel and try to wring some good news out of it.

First off, the opening lines were not intended to be taken literally.

Jesus did not come to earth to set it on fire.

Maybe some of you are saying that’s obvious but I want to be clear.

There was a footnote in some of the commentaries I read that said “setting the earth on fire” was a common idiom of Jesus’ time that used the image of lighting an outdoor earthen oven to mean getting things started.

So, Jesus is talking about getting things rolling.

He is anxious to get on with it.

The “baptism he must still receive” refers to his passion, death, and resurrection.

Of course it’s causing him “great distress”.

I mean how would you like having that hanging over your head?

Next comes this weird question: “Do you think I’m here to bring peace on earth?”

Like us, the disciples were probably thinking, “yeah dude!

All you’ve been talking about is the Kin-dom of God—how great it is, how justice will reign, and all people will have enough!

You mean to tell us that there isn’t peace in the Kin-dom?”

But that’s just it.

There is peace in the Kin-dom.

But the Kin-dom is only near.

It is not yet.

So, all this talk about division is about building the Kin-dom.

Because the Kin-dom is something new.

The Kin-dom requires change—and not minor change.

Significant change.

Societal upheaval even.

And guess what?

That kind of change creates division.

Division in communities, for sure.

And even division in families.

Some of you may remember that my brother and sister-in-law were here a few weeks ago.

Dan came because he was scheduled for surgery that week and he thought coming to the church where his brother preached would provide him with an extra bit of grace.

I don’t believe that’s the way grace works but I wasn’t going to argue with him.

I was glad that they came.

It was the Sunday that I preached about HR1, the bill that made the tax cuts to corporations and billionaires permanent.

The bill that greatly increased the budget for ICE.

All at the expense of healthcare and food assistance for poor and low-income folks.

The people Jesus called “the least of these”.

I knew my brother and sister-in-law would not agree with what I had to say.

A few weeks later, at a family party, Laurie said something about my having drunk the Kool-Aid.

Of course, I might have made the same comment about her.

I would have said that my Kool-Aid—if that’s what you want to call it—came from the gospel.

Whereas hers came from idealogues who were only interested in creating fear and sowing division.

But there’s one example of the division that Jesus was talking about.

Brother against brother divided by their hopes or expectations for the future.

I imagine many of you have similar divisions within your own families.

I wrestle with the dilemma of should I speak my truth or should I maintain peace within the family?

More often than not, I opt for peace.

But I do worry that makes me a bit of a hypocrite.

How do I preach the truth of the gospel on Sunday morning and then opt to hold my tongue at a family gathering?

My hope lies in the words of Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and prolific author.

He maintains that there must be division before there can be true unity.

He says this because even good people will have differences of opinion.

Even good people will hurt one another.

He goes on to say that overcoming our differences—that is what brings the peace of Christ.

And letting go of the hurt—that is what brings the healing of the Spirit.

I confess that I would be a lot happier if I thought that all my friends and family held the same beliefs as I do.

It is difficult when people you love hold beliefs that are diametrically opposed to your own.

What makes it even more difficult is knowing that discussion is futile.

That the political rhetoric in this country has created such deeply entrenched positions that constructive dialog is not possible.

I confess that it pains me.

It pains me because my political views are defined by my morality.

And my morality has been formed by the love of God.

My love FOR God—imperfect as it may be.

And God’s love for me—that unconditional, inexhaustible love that keeps challenging me to be more like Jesus.

That keeps challenging me to keep working with God to build the Kin-dom.

I know I will never see it in my lifetime.

But I’m going to keep laying bricks one-by-one.

And I’m going to keep spreading mortar.

Because that is what I am called to do.

And that, my friends, are what you are called to do as well.

So, I guess that question for me becomes, “how do we deal with this division while we’re waiting for the Kin-dom?”

Some if us may even be asking ourselves, “how do we not only deal with the division but also the fear—the frustration—that it seems like we’re moving further away from the Kin-dom?”

That’s a good question and I’m not sure I have a good answer but I’m going to give it a shot.

I think the answer lies buried in this strange passage about Jesus coming to bring division.

All this talk about division between father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law—it’s all pointing us to the reality that it is not our earthly family that is important.

Jesus is trying to focus us on our divine family.

Jesus is reminding us that we are beloved children of God.

Possessing the divine image of God.

Called by name and claimed as God’s own.

That is our true identity.

That is the path to ending division.

That is the path to ending unkindness and cruelty.

That is the path to the peace of Christ.

And that is the path to the healing of the Spirit.

The path to the Kin-dom will not be uncovered by winning arguments.

The path to the Kin-dom will not be uncovered by showing that we are right and they are wrong.

The path to the Kin-dom cannot be uncovered through domination.

The path to the Kin-dom can only be uncovered by acknowledging that we are the same.

We are beloved children of God—each and every one of us.

We all possess the divine image of God—each and every one of us.

We have all been called by name and claimed as God’s own—each and every one of us.

That is Jesus’ message for us.

That is what he is hoping will be as obvious to us as the weather when we look out the window.

We are beloved of God.

And we are all siblings—alike in a way that trumps any differences.

Because we all possess the divine image of our Creator.

May this meditation on God’s word keep our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. Amen.