Homily: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C (Video & Text)

The full text of this homily follows the below video.

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Readings: Jer 38:4-6,8-10; Ps 40; Heb 12:1-4, 8-19; Lk 12:49-53

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In May of 1940, Winston Churchill, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, delivered his first speech to the House of Commons. It was an electrifying speech, one that united the nation behind his leadership as it waged war against Nazi Germany, a determined and stronger foe. And in that speech he uttered perhaps his most famous words:

"I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.' We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering."

Jeremiah

These were not comforting words, not words a government leader wants to say to the people. But they were necessary words, harsh but motivating words. They were words of truth, words that, despite the metaphors, still told it like it is. Churchill was perhaps the perfect wartime leader, and maybe this is why he was rejected by his nation once the war had ended. We see something similar in today's first reading: Jeremiah tells the hard truth, but many don't want to hear it. And so they try to destroy God's prophet.

In today's Gospel passage, Luke gives us Jesus' words. They, too, seem harsh, so harsh that some, who don't understand what Jesus is telling us, come away puzzled. How can Jesus, the Prince of Peace, tell us that He has come "not to establish peace on the earth...but rather division"? [Lk 12:51]

But that's not all. He also says that He will be the cause of this division, and that He has "come to bring fire to the earth." And then He adds those remarkable words: "And how I wish it were already blazing" [Lk 12:49].

Yes, these are indeed harsh words, the kind of words many Christians try to ignore, thinking that maybe Jesus was just having a bad day. He really didn't mean it. Did He? Like Churchill, who was apparently acceptable to many of his countrymen so long as he was waging war, to many Christians Jesus is acceptable only when He speaks of peace and love and forgiveness. But, in truth, Jesus meant everything He said. 

The trouble is, too often we see and hear only the Jesus we want to see and hear, the Jesus we'd like Him to be, and ignore the real Jesus, the God who speaks to us. Remember last Sunday's Gospel? Remember how Jesus reminded us of the demands of discipleship? 

"Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more" [Lk 12:48}.

Those, too, were not easy words for you and for me, or for all Christians who have been entrusted with so much. Jesus' words in today's Gospel passage are really quite similar. But let's look at them more closely, in the context of His total teaching, and see what Jesus is really telling us. The first thing He says: 

"I have come to bring fire to the earth" [Lk 12:49].

Is He speaking of the fire of war and destruction? No, not at all. But He is speaking of a fire that cleanses and purifies, the fire of God's Light, the fire of God's Truth, the fire of God's Presence.

It's the fire Moses encountered when he approached the burning bush on Mount Horeb [Ex 3:1-6]. The fire that didn't consume called Moses to discipleship and holiness. It is the fire that forms and reforms, a fire that continues its work in the Church today.

It's the pillar of fire that led God's People out of slavery and through the desert on their journey to freedom, to the Land promised by the Father [Ex 13:21-22].

It's the fire of the burning ember that touched Isaiah's lips and removed his wickedness and purged his sin [Is 6:6-7].

In every instance it's the unquenchable fire of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who appeared as tongues of fire settling on the first disciples as they prayed together in the upper room [Acts 2:3].

Yes, Jesus calls for fire, but it's a fire of purification. It's a fire of a new creation, the fire that brings the Church into being and continues to cleanse and purify her, always calling her back to her holy beginnings.

Oh, it can be painful as it calls us to repentance and conversion, demanding that we reject the world's false promises. But it's also a fire of liberation, a fire that frees us from our slavery to sin and leads us to the freedom of God's Kingdom. 

And then Jesus tells us: 

"There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished"  [Lk 12:50].

Once again, many are confused when they hear these words. Hadn't Jesus already undergone a Baptism when John baptized Him in the Jordan? [Mt 3:16-17] Yes, but for Jesus that Baptism by John was a sign, a manifestation of the Trinity - Jesus experiencing the descending dove of the Holy Spirit and the confirming words of the Father. Is He talking now of a second Baptism, another trip to the Jordan? No, not at all. 

In the early Church, and in many churches today, Baptism involves a total immersion in its saving waters. How does the Church's funeral rite begin today?

"In Baptism, she died with Christ and rose with Him to new life. May she now share with Him eternal glory." [See Rom 6:3-5]

Immersed, then, in the waters of Baptism, we die with Christ and become a sign of Christ's suffering and death. Rising from the waters we are a sign of His Resurrection, looking to our own resurrection on the last day.

Does Jesus look forward to this "Baptism" on the Cross? His words answer the question.

"...how great is my anguish until it is accomplished" [Lk 12:50].

Finally, Jesus tells us:

"Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division [Lk 12:51].

For many these words of Jesus both confuse and alarm. Isn't the Gospel all about bringing God's peace to the world? Doesn't Jesus tell us to love one another? Doesn't He call the peacemakers the "children of God?" [Mt 5:9]  And perhaps, most alarming, don't these words encourage Christians to reject peaceful solutions to the problems that divide us?

Such questions betray a lack of understanding not only of Jesus' teaching, but of human nature itself. Jesus simply gives His disciples, and us, a prophetic glance into the future, showing us how much of the world will respond to the Good News.

God doesn't will such divisions, but He warns us that we will encounter them. Indeed, it began when both Jew and Gentile, and that includes all of us, called for Jesus' crucifixion. And it's been going on ever since. 

Christianity and its teachings have not only been rejected by many, but also seen as the greatest threat to the plans and schemes of those seeking to gain or maintain power. It began with Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Romans. And it continues today with Communists and Islamists, with atheists and secularists. 

Stalin once mockingly asked how many divisions the Pope had. And yet it was the faith of persecuted Polish Catholics that began the liberation of Eastern Europe from the Soviet yoke. Thanks to Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and too many others, there were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than all previous centuries combined. Where there is persecution, there is tremendous faith.

Today, while Christianity in the modern west seems to be in decline, in Africa and in Asia its growth is dramatic, and this also includes remarkable growth in priestly and religious vocations.

The Church - and it is truly Catholic, a universal Church - because it defends the truth, demands justice, calls for respect of life and human dignity, and pleads for freedom, will always create division.

Yes, the peacemakers are blessed, but so too are those who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. Jesus doesn't separate the two, and neither can we.

God's peace...