Conflict
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 18, 2019
Preaching text: Luke 12:49-56
Jesus said, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 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.”
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. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. 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?”
Sermon
This gospel lesson sounds like a Thanksgiving dinner from hell, right? When I read this passage at a home communion earlier this week I was pretty sure I was not going to preach on this passage. But then, remember how I asked you to send me your questions? Well – I received one that seemed to relate to this scripture passage.
The question is: from a Scriptural basis, since we are required to treat others as ourselves (as you recognize, the second great commandment), how then is it reconciled when the “others” have very diverse needs (hopes, aspirations) and there are limited resources or contradictory opinions or what is important.
Great question, right? I’m not convinced I know the answer but these are my thoughts.
And I want to touch upon this questions from a few different angles. But the first is to set this passage from our gospel in context. Jesus is not saying that he came to cause division just for the sake of creating pain and chaos. But what he is saying is that if you follow Christ and you uphold kingdom values, you are going to upset people. If you challenge the status quo or authorities or institutions that perpetuate evil, injustice, oppression, racism, misogyny, or whatever – you are going to upset people. Even though Jesus calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves – he never says that we are called to keep quiet, and, above all else, to be people pleasers.
And that’s hard, right? If you were raised like I was, you were taught to respect your elders, mind your ps and qs, and above all else never make someone feel uncomfortable – even if that someone says the most hateful thing in the world.
So the point of this passage is not to say that division is Jesus’ primary intention, but it is the result of doing Kingdom Work. When you engage in the work that Jesus asks us to do – which is summed up in Jesus’ great command – Love your neighbor as yourself, and love God, you are going to upset some people. Kingdom values are hard to take. Jesus makes it quite clear that we are called to care for others – particularly those that are most in need.
But loving your neighbor as yourself is not easy. Not so much because we don’t want to – but sometimes we’re not sure how to. Here’s an example. Sometimes it is challenging for me to figure out how to love my neighbor when it comes to my discretionary fund – which is a fund that I have to help people in need. The canons of the church say that the discretionary fund is to be used for, and I quote, “pious and charitable uses as shall be thought fit by the Member of the Clergy.” So sometimes people call and ask for food cards – like, from Shaw’s – which is great, right? Sounds like a good thing. The supplicant will tell you it will be used to buy food for their family. However, from experience, I know this is often a scheme, where the cards are sold for half their value, and the money will be used to buy drugs. Or what is even harder is when you know someone is really in need – and yet you know you could empty the whole discretionary account ten times over to help but it would be a small drop in the ocean of their need. It’s so much easier when you know the person’s need and you can really help out. But it is hard when you know that helping them out, does not in the long run help them out. And yet we know that Jesus said to give to everyone who asks. That’s in Luke chapter 6, verse 30.
I am sure you have your own version of a discretionary account story. In my last church, we had a debt counselor who used our space. And I asked her what was the hardest part of her job. And she said, hands down, it was counselling parents who have bailed out their adult children from bad business decisions or bad financial choices – children whom they would move mountains for, but have unfortunately through their love, emptied out all of their savings and pensions, took on debt, and now are completely broke.
Maybe this is not your story. Maybe it’s not money that you are being asked for, but a lot of emotional support – for that person who is so needy that they just wring you out. Maybe for you it is a child, maybe a spouse, or a sibling. Maybe they are asking just too much of you.
And this is why I think this gospel passage is good news. We are never going to please everyone. We are never going to be absolutely sure that what we decide is right or wrong. We just have to have faith in God, and in ourselves, that what we decide and do, will be born out of love, maybe even tough love – for God, for ourselves, and for others. We can’t always be the person that other people want us to be – or give what others want us to give – we may find what they want is not even healthy for them or for us.
So how do we know what to do? How do we know what is the best and loving thing to do? I have a few suggestions. I started with two – and ended out with four suggestions.
- Find a person you trust and have an honest conversation about what is going on and ask them help you discern what is the right thing to do? This is different from venting. Venting is not action oriented, it is perpetuating.[1]
- Trust yourself.
- Finally pray. Pray for generosity of spirit and the courage to work for the kingdom. Pray over whether or not you help that person out of the hole they have dug for themselves. Pray that you have good boundaries. Pray that when you make a kingdom decision that you can withstand the division it may cause in your family, or your friend group. Pray to know the difference between people pleasing and loving our neighbor as ourselves. And it is hard.
- And then I just want to add one more thing – Jesus did not help everyone solely and personally – he recruited a whole team to help him, and that whole team became a whole religion. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders – we are called to carry some weight – but not all the weight – let others help. You do not need to love your neighbor all by yourself.
I just want to say to end, really end this time, by saying – that I chose to address this question in terms of personal relationships – but this passage bears out in how we address the needs of our community, the needs of our nation and the needs of our world. We can’t do it all – like the question I was sent this week points out – our resources are limited – but we can do something. So first of all, pray that you know that something you are called to do. Pray to find partners in that work – the disciples worked in twos – it’s a great example for us. And secondly, pray for political candidates to rise up that hold up the values that Jesus died to uphold, and vote for the candidates in our communities, in our districts, state and country who are committed to those values.
Amen.
[1] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/venting-just-makes-you-more-miserable-science-shows.html
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