When you ask people about Jesus and His message, even
those who are not Christians, most people’s view would be something like the
following. Jesus was a kind, gentle man who taught a message of universal goodwill
and brotherhood. Following His teaching should bring tranquility and peace to
your life. This view of Jesus is epitomized by many movies about His life.
Jesus is presented with long hair and incredibly gentle. He acts like a hippie
who walked the roads of Palestine – wearing sandals of course – some 2000 years
ago. Now, there certainly is a lot of truth to this image of Jesus and His
message, but it is not the whole picture. In today’s gospel we see another side
of Jesus. He is presented as a disruptive and rebellious figure. He tells us
that He has not come to bring peace, but division. Jesus explains the affect
that His teaching should have on the world: it should be like a fire. As we
will see, what Jesus has in mind with this analogy is a far cry from a serene campfire
around which we hold hands and sing Kumbaya.
If we are trying to follow Jesus, we should feel a
certain amount of division, some burning even, within ourselves. Being a
Christian should make us feel uncomfortable at times. This is because the
Gospel calls us to change ourselves and change can be painful. Jesus calls us
to act in a way that we would sometimes rather not act. When we say yes to
Jesus and His way, we can sometimes feel like we are at war within ourselves.
For example, if someone says something rude about myself or someone I care
about, my first reaction is to seek revenge, to hurt them back. In such a
situation choosing to follow Jesus’ example by fighting against this impulse
and forgiving the person will not be easy, it may hurt us to do this. Or, for
example, we all want to accumulate more and better material goods, whether it
be clothes, a car, good food or entertainment. Making the choice not to buy
yourself that new outfit, or the best car you can or to see that new movie and
rather give some of that money to the needy, is not an easy thing to do. We
feel the tension between what we want and what Jesus asks of us. When we chose
to follow Jesus we discover that it brings struggle and discord within
ourselves.
Being a Christian will also cause a certain amount of
division between ourselves and other people.
Following Jesus will often put us at odds with current trends and
popular opinion about what it means to live a good life. I experienced this
strongly when I graduated from a Catholic High School and went to university.
The new friends I was making often had a different world-view and set of
values. Tensions could often arise because of our disagreements on different
issues, whether it be regarding belief in God, the role of religion in society
and a host of moral issues. Following Christ can put as at odds with other
people, sometimes those very close to us. Jesus says that His message will
bring division even in a family, a son against his father, for example. Perhaps
you might argue that it is the normal state of affairs for a daughter-in-law to
be at odds with her mother-in-law. You don’t need Jesus to have conflict with
your in-laws! Now, I do not think that Jesus wants there to be division within
a family. He is trying to highlight the seriousness of His message and that it
demands a response, either we are for or against. This, unfortunately, can lead
to tensions in a family. We see this in the lives of some saints. For example, the fathers of St. Francis of
Assisi and St. Thomas of Aquinas both put their sons under house arrest when they
heard about they plans to follow Jesus. Choosing to follow Jesus with often
cause a certain amount of division between ourselves and other people.
The tensions that arise from following Christ, those
within ourselves and those with other people, are meant to purify us so that we
become more like Jesus. The fire
that Jesus can bring to our lives will hurt at times but will transform us to
be better people. Fire has many uses, it can keep us warm or it can heat our
food. Fire is also used to purify metals. A woman once went to visit a
silversmith to observe him in action. She noticed that in order to purge the
silver from all its impurities, the silversmith would heat the silver over a
fire in order to burn off all foreign elements. The woman asked the silversmith
how he knew when the process of purification was over. The smith responded that
he paid close attention to the silver in the fire; he would know that the
silver was purified when – and only when - he could see his own reflection in
the silver. Jesus does the same to us.
When we make the choice to follow Christ each day it is not easy, it causes
tensions both within ourselves and with others. In a way we are held in the
fire. These struggles are meant to purify and refine us, to remove all
impurities so that more and more we become like Christ. The fire that Jesus
brings should transform us so that more and more we reflect Him in our life.
Today’s gospel calls us to examine our understanding of
what it means to follow Jesus. What are our expectations in following Christ?
Should we expect a life of peace and tranquility? Yes, but not at once and not
all the time. We should not let ourselves feel discouraged when we experienced
struggles and divisions – both internal and external - because we have chosen
to follow Jesus. This is normal. If we never felt a struggle within ourselves
or experienced that we are at odds with social trends and opinions then
something would be wrong. This should give us hope. Let us change the way that
look at struggles and difficulties in our life. We should not see them as times
when God has abandoned us or feel that something is wrong. Rather we should
recognize them for what they are, necessary moments when Jesus is refining us
and removing from us impurities so that we more and more reflect Him in all our
words, thoughts and actions.
